Highland Financial Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Highland Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 10.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,884 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 663 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 0.6% of Highland Financial Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Highland Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,724,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its position in 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 acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth about $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $110,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % 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 worth $40,818,720 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $196.79 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $219.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.13. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.77 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.24, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 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%. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the company. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $202.33 to $167.88 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.85.

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.