Advisors Asset Management Inc. Acquires 11,204 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 534,397 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 11,204 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 2.5% of Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $133,824,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Carlson Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Apple by 28.2% during the fourth quarter. Carlson Capital Management now owns 57,832 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $14,482,000 after buying an additional 12,718 shares during the last quarter. Custos Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Custos Family Office LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,864,000 after purchasing an additional 943 shares during the period. Clarity Wealth Development LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,182,000. PDS Planning Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 100,647 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $25,204,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 34,802 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $8,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,097 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, May 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.80.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $0.94 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $199.01. 70,744,759 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,229,633. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $203.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $225.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.