Soltis Investment Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Soltis Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 99,699 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,205 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 2.1% of Soltis Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $13,778,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. MKT Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 12,269 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,777,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP now owns 6,339 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $867,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Aufman Associates Inc raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Aufman Associates Inc now owns 7,674 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,049,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Silver Oak Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Silver Oak Advisory Group Inc. now owns 3,925 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,993 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $690,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. 57.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $125.00 price target on Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 24th. Barclays raised their price target on Apple from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Credit Suisse Group set a $184.00 price target on Apple in a research note on Monday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $175.00 price target on Apple in a research note on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Two equities research 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 an average price target of $168.24.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $148.50 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $144.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $145.54. The stock has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.30. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $124.17 and a 1 year high of $179.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by ($0.05). Apple had a return on equity of 163.45% and a net margin of 24.56%. The company had revenue of $117.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.67 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.62%.

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.