Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. Buys 74,565 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 97.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 151,390 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 74,565 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 3.3% of Ausdal Financial Partners Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $37,911,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in Apple in the third quarter worth $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth $77,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock traded up $3.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $203.92. The stock had a trading volume of 46,447,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,081,504. The stock's 50 day moving average is $201.56 and its 200 day moving average is $224.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.37, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given 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 a consensus target price of $235.02.

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.