Dupree Financial Group LLC Grows Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Dupree Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,613 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the period. Apple comprises 2.2% of Dupree Financial Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Dupree Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,912,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.6% in 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 last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.3% in 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. Geode Capital Management LLC raised 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 worth $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 20,372.7% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, January 27th. Argus upgraded Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $245.52.

Apple Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $223.89 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $230.55 and its 200 day moving average is $233.36. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.08 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.54, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

About Apple

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.