Avid Wealth Partners LLC Acquires New Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Avid Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 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 portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $560,388,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $487,435,000. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Apple by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,759,061 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,519,244,000 after buying an additional 2,826,709 shares in the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $461,021,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Apple by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,394,751,000 after buying an additional 2,018,010 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on Apple from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Redburn Partners lowered Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Bank of America raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $208.00 to $225.00 in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $158.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.05.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $169.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $162.80 and a fifty-two week high of $199.62. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $173.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $181.85. The company has a market capitalization of $2.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.46, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

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.