Petredis Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Petredis Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 207,369 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,918 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 5.4% of Petredis Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $51,929,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 6.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 6.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $213.49 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $234.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $233.82. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.08 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $3.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.89, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Apple from $275.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.22.

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.