Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC Increases Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,992 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,521 shares during the quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,053,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Apple in the 1st quarter worth about $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after buying an additional 7,558,826 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 158.3% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,977,582,000 after buying an additional 7,067,379 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 161.2% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,502,068,000 after acquiring an additional 5,405,542 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $834,368,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.4 %

Apple stock opened at $225.12 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $226.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $215.45.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

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.