Portfolio Design Labs LLC Increases Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Portfolio Design Labs LLC increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 25.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 99,388 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,850 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 5.1% of Portfolio Design Labs LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Portfolio Design Labs LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $24,889,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in Apple in the third quarter worth $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $110,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Loop Capital lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’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 owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $202.52 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.08 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $222.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $230.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Apple 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.