St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC Acquires 1,084 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,738 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,084 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 2.3% of St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,190,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the third 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 period. 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. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 6.6% in 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 last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in 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 worth $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $237.30 on Friday. 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 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $239.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $233.42. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders 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 0.42%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer cut Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $275.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 20th. 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 note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.88.

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.