Avid Wealth Partners LLC Invests $749,000 in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Avid Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,891 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $749,000. Apple accounts for 0.7% of Avid Wealth Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. now owns 11,464 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,963,000 after purchasing an additional 598 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 172,823 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $29,589,000 after acquiring an additional 20,737 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,236,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 75,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,461,000 after acquiring an additional 10,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 4,307,068 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $829,240,000 after acquiring an additional 279,311 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. DZ Bank reissued a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, DA Davidson initiated coverage on Apple in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $166.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $169.89 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $162.80 and a 1-year high of $199.62. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $173.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $181.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $2.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.95%.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.