Northwest Financial Advisors Cuts Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Northwest Financial Advisors decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 64,585 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,537 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 13.4% of Northwest Financial Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Northwest Financial Advisors’ holdings in Apple were worth $16,173,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 10.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 6.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 5.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 worth $22,121,656,000 after acquiring an additional 5,893,741 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $218.27 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.08 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $231.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $233.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $3.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.65, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS 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, research analysts forecast 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. 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 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Bank of America increased their price target on Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Maxim Group increased their price target on Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Raymond James increased their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.65.

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.