Echo Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Echo Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 49.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,635 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 5,865 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 2.5% of Echo Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Echo Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,024,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. now owns 11,464 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,963,000 after purchasing an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 172,823 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $29,589,000 after purchasing an additional 20,737 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 75,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,461,000 after acquiring an additional 10,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 4,307,068 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $829,240,000 after acquiring an additional 279,311 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler Companies downgraded shares of Apple to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $220.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Redburn Partners downgraded shares of Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.3 %

AAPL stock traded down $0.59 during trading on Friday, hitting $169.30. 44,717,137 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 53,363,952. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $173.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $181.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.99 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. Apple’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.88 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.95%.

Apple Company 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.