BDF Gestion Trims Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

BDF Gestion decreased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 381,923 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 49,593 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 8.9% of BDF Gestion’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. BDF Gestion’s holdings in Apple were worth $95,641,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during 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 last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 10.6% during 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AAPL. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Loop Capital downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays boosted their price target on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.65.

Apple Stock Up 1.4 %

Apple stock opened at $223.75 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.08 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $231.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $233.43. 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 $3.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.52, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal 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 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.87%.

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.