McCarthy & Cox Cuts Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

McCarthy & Cox lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,647 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 120 shares during the quarter. McCarthy & Cox’s holdings in Apple were worth $412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 20,372.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted 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 purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.5% during 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. FMR LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $275.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $239.07 on Friday. 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 one year low of $164.08 and a one year high of $260.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $237.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $234.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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, sell-side analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 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.