Veritas Investment Partners UK Ltd. Buys 2,200 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Veritas Investment Partners UK Ltd. increased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 13.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,989 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Apple comprises 0.1% of Veritas Investment Partners UK Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Veritas Investment Partners UK Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,890,884,000. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 53.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 30,235,823 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,178,590,000 after acquiring an additional 10,471,342 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Apple by 8.2% in 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 buying an additional 9,411,018 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,995,750 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $221,753,959,000 after buying an additional 8,734,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 12.1% in 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 buying an additional 8,716,964 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.60% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $150.59 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $143.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $145.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $2.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.30. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.17 and a fifty-two week high of $179.61.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.93 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $117.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $121.67 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.56% and a return on equity of 163.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.10 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 13th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 10th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 12th. National Bank Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Apple to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 20th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Apple from $167.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.24.

Apple Company 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.