Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stake Raised by EMC Capital Management

EMC Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 65.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,475 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the period. EMC Capital Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $369,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in Apple by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $787,631,000 after acquiring an additional 588,427 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 93,467 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $21,778,000 after purchasing an additional 1,551 shares during the period. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 118,888 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $26,356,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the period. Great Oak Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the third quarter. Great Oak Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,978 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,129,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. now owns 32,816 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,646,000 after purchasing an additional 1,656 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Oppenheimer cut Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. DA Davidson set a $290.00 price objective on Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.65.

Apple Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $221.53 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $231.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $233.35. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.08 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $3.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.