Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC's 2nd Largest Position

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 6.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 304,426 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 19,178 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 3.0% of Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $76,234,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at about $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in Apple in the third quarter worth about $77,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $96,000. Finally, Collier Financial bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $140,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $170.62 price objective (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Argus upgraded shares of Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $0.19 on Friday, hitting $211.26. 53,614,750 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 55,938,270. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $206.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $226.68. The firm has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.53, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

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.