Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd Invests $55.17 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 220,298 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $55,167,000. Apple makes up 24.3% of Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd 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 grew 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 buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $77,542,863,000 after buying an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings 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. boosted its holdings 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.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $245.55 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $240.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $232.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.98, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 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 anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus upgraded Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp restated an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $244.85.

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.