Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Cut by Stolper Co

Stolper Co lessened its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 61,034 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 438 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 5.1% of Stolper Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Stolper Co’s holdings in Apple were worth $15,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 6.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 5.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 6.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,121,656,000 after buying an additional 5,893,741 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $237.30 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.67, a PEG ratio of 2.44 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $239.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $233.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Maxim Group boosted their price objective on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.88.

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.