Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Americana Partners LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Americana Partners LLC raised its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 114.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 398,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 212,762 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 4.1% of Americana Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Americana Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $99,873,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $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 worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at about $71,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $263.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Maxim Group increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price objective on Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.00.

Apple Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $199.74 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $217.94 and a 200-day moving average of $229.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.92 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.