Asset Planning Inc Takes Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 32,327 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $8,095,000. Apple accounts for approximately 6.2% of Asset Planning Inc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in Apple by 21.1% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $787,631,000 after purchasing an additional 588,427 shares in the last quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,016,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. ODonnell Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 4.0% during the third quarter. ODonnell Financial Services LLC now owns 35,003 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $8,156,000 after buying an additional 1,359 shares during the period. Lanham O Dell & Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 8.4% in the third quarter. Lanham O Dell & Company Inc. now owns 4,821 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,123,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the period. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,279,719 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $531,166,000 after buying an additional 28,488 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Moffett Nathanson restated a "sell" rating and issued a $188.00 price target (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.85.

Apple Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of AAPL stock traded up $2.52 during trading on Friday, hitting $196.79. 51,328,536 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,825,645. 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. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.77 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $219.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $230.08.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720 in the last 90 days. 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.