Lord & Richards Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lord & Richards Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 3,605 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $903,000. Apple makes up approximately 1.9% of Lord & Richards Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Drystone LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth approximately $71,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $1.05 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $205.65. The stock had a trading volume of 8,306,687 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,633,127. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $217.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $229.52. The stock has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.69, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $166.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, 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 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wedbush cut their target price on Apple from $325.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Two 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $233.88.

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.