Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Position Boosted by Claro Advisors LLC

Claro Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 124,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 953 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 4.2% of Claro Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $31,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. now owns 23,982 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,006,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Fulcrum Capital LLC increased its position in Apple by 44.7% in the fourth quarter. Fulcrum Capital LLC now owns 160,032 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,075,000 after buying an additional 49,413 shares in the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 114,026 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $28,554,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares in the last quarter. Clean Yield Group grew its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 105,124 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $26,325,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,399 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,606,000 after buying an additional 2,346 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. KeyCorp reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $242.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $245.55 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $240.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $232.55. The firm has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid 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 yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.