Occidental Asset Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Occidental Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 121,812 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,298 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 4.9% of Occidental Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Occidental Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $23,452,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,995,750 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $221,753,959,000 after purchasing an additional 8,734,393 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 116,483.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $74,002,245,000 after purchasing an additional 569,066,184 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 291,538,165 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $56,396,763,000 after purchasing an additional 6,367,053 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 234,017,381 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $38,589,468,000 after purchasing an additional 7,736,013 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 208,655,323 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,110,586,000 after purchasing an additional 25,926,552 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 253,915 shares of company stock worth $44,202,868 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Redburn Partners cut shares of Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $160.00 to $158.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $166.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.08.

Apple Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $176.55 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a fifty day moving average of $176.70 and a 200 day moving average of $182.31. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $161.42 and a 52-week high of $199.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. Apple’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.88 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. 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.