Hodges Capital Management Inc. Reduces Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Hodges Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 78,782 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,931 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 1.2% of Hodges Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Hodges Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $19,729,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised 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 valued at $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 10.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 6.5% during 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 buying an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased 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 valued at $22,121,656,000 after buying an additional 5,893,741 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Bank of America upped their price target on Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup upped their target price on Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James increased their target price on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $245.52.

Apple Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $223.19 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.43, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.08 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $230.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $233.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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 $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 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.