Vantage Point Financial LLC Acquires New Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Vantage Point Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 22,048 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $5,521,000. Apple comprises 3.0% of Vantage Point Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position 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 buying an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $77,542,863,000 after buying an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 valued at $22,121,656,000 after acquiring an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Four equities research 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $245.52.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $223.89 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.08 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $230.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $233.36. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.54, a P/E/G 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 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.