McBroom & Associates LLC Purchases 1,043 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

McBroom & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,680 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 5.3% of McBroom & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. McBroom & Associates LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,267,000. Bonfire Financial purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $2,395,000. Essex Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 330,874 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,858,000 after purchasing an additional 8,352 shares during the period. BostonPremier Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $6,923,000. Finally, First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 5,715 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,431,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $198.15 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company’s 50-day moving average is $222.87 and its 200 day moving average is $231.16. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.08 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Barclays lifted their price objective on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $202.33 to $167.88 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wedbush decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $325.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $240.26.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

About Apple

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.