Stephenson & Company Inc. Buys 110 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Stephenson & Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,074 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 1.2% of Stephenson & Company Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Stephenson & Company Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,771,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Custom Index Systems LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC now owns 42,884 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,739,000 after purchasing an additional 1,418 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,858,000. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC now owns 174,652 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $43,736,000 after acquiring an additional 2,961 shares during the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Apple by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 76,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $19,274,000 after acquiring an additional 4,541 shares during the period. Finally, Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 451,633 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $113,098,000 after purchasing an additional 8,923 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Maxim Group boosted their price objective on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price target (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $245.52.

Apple Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $217.90 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.08 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $230.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $233.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.