Americana Partners LLC Has $99.87 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Americana Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 114.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 398,824 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 212,762 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 4.1% of Americana Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Americana Partners LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $99,873,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Amara Financial LLC. acquired a new stake in Apple in the third quarter worth $288,000. Silicon Valley Capital Partners raised its stake in shares of Apple by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $59,122,000 after buying an additional 28,799 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 96,589 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $22,505,000 after purchasing an additional 3,935 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc lifted its stake in Apple by 10.1% during the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 375,539 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $87,501,000 after buying an additional 34,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 5th Street Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 32.9% in the third quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC now owns 15,100 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,518,000 after purchasing an additional 3,736 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush reduced their price target on Apple from $325.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $202.33 to $167.88 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Moffett Nathanson restated a "sell" rating and issued a $188.00 price target (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $233.88.

Apple Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $208.32. The company had a trading volume of 24,722,624 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,689,747. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $168.15 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.04, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $216.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $229.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the company'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 directly owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.