Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Bought by Howard Bailey Securities LLC

Howard Bailey Securities LLC grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 52.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,040 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 5,840 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 1.6% of Howard Bailey Securities LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Howard Bailey Securities LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $4,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $787,631,000 after buying an additional 588,427 shares during the last quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple by 0.3% in the third quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,016,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Integrity Financial Corp WA increased its stake in Apple by 18.8% during the third quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA now owns 32,980 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $7,684,000 after acquiring an additional 5,225 shares during the last quarter. Trellis Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 67.9% in the 3rd quarter. Trellis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,865 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,600,000 after purchasing an additional 2,777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Telos Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. now owns 233,615 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $54,432,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Maxim Group raised their target price on Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.85.

Apple Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ AAPL traded up $2.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $196.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 51,328,536 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,825,645. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.77 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $219.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $230.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

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.