Concorde Asset Management LLC Purchases 1,619 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Concorde Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,723 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,619 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 1.9% of Concorde Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Concorde Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,430,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 0.5% during the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,249,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $813,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Lowery Thomas LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.7% in the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Latitude Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,016,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Maxim Group increased their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.52.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $236.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $241.56 and a 200-day moving average of $230.86.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.87%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.