Vivid Wealth Management LLC Increases Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Vivid Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,910 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 77 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 1.8% of Vivid Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Vivid Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,483,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its position in Apple by 252.3% in 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 last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in Apple during the third quarter worth about $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $110,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Oppenheimer downgraded Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Raymond James raised their target price on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Argus upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.85.

Apple Stock Up 1.3 %

AAPL stock opened at $196.79 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 has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.77 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $219.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $230.13.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.