Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Cut by Columbia Advisory Partners LLC

Columbia Advisory Partners LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,699 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 404 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 4.2% of Columbia Advisory Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Columbia Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,413,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Apple by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,995,750 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $221,753,959,000 after acquiring an additional 8,734,393 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Apple by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 237,910,783 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $32,527,162,000 after purchasing an additional 4,831,418 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Apple by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 123,534,393 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,889,649,000 after purchasing an additional 9,411,018 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 80,739,774 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,097,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,155,915 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 80,467,043 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,001,469,000 after purchasing an additional 8,716,964 shares during the period. 57.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $145.31 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.17 and a 1-year high of $179.61. The company has a 50-day moving average of $141.16 and a 200 day moving average of $146.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.67, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.93 by ($0.05). Apple had a net margin of 24.56% and a return on equity of 163.45%. The business had revenue of $117.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $121.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.10 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.05 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 13th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 10th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $167.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Fundamental Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $168.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, February 14th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, November 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $165.15.

Apple Profile

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Apple, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and other varieties of related services. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, Greater China, Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific. The Americas segment includes North and South America.