Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Trimmed by Five Oceans Advisors

Five Oceans Advisors trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,141 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 939 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 3.5% of Five Oceans Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Five Oceans Advisors’ holdings in Apple were worth $7,548,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in Apple by 21.1% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $787,631,000 after purchasing an additional 588,427 shares during the last quarter. BWM Planning LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth approximately $10,936,000. Guild Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Guild Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,298 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,031,000 after acquiring an additional 940 shares during the last quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 219,895 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $51,235,000 after acquiring an additional 10,945 shares during the period. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 69,485 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Argus raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, January 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given 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, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $245.52.

Apple Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $217.90 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $230.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $233.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.59, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. 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.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

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.