LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI Has $98.79 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI lessened its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 394,482 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 10,025 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 10.6% of LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI’s holdings in Apple were worth $98,786,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 20,372.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $244.87 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $240.56 and its 200-day moving average is $232.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Apple from $280.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 target price (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $242.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.