Vivid Wealth Management LLC Makes New $4.23 Million Investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Vivid Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 21,989 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $4,233,000. Apple makes up approximately 2.9% of Vivid Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wyrmwood Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 69.0% in the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 118.0% in the 4th quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in Apple by 70.2% in the 3rd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $132,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Redburn Atlantic cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $196.00 price objective (up previously from $189.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.11.

Apple Stock Up 6.0 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $183.38 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $172.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $181.67. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $199.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 153.25%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.93%.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,378,155.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 over the last ninety days. Company 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.