Fred Alger Management LLC Has $1.12 Billion Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Fred Alger Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,822,803 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 51,495 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 5.4% of Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,123,713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 6.6% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position in Apple by 22,870.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,302,607,000 after purchasing an additional 5,566,250 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James raised their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Maxim Group increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price target (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $242.52.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Up 0.3 %

AAPL stock opened at $233.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $241.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.96. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. 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.