Blueshift Asset Management LLC Acquires Shares of 4,074 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 4,074 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $563,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,995,750 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $221,753,959,000 after acquiring an additional 8,734,393 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Apple by 2.1% in 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 last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 9,411,018 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in 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 worth $14,097,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,155,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 12.1% during the second quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 80,467,043 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,001,469,000 after buying an additional 8,716,964 shares in the last quarter. 57.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $175.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $125.00 price target on Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 24th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. National Bank Financial dropped their target price on Apple to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 20th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.24.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $150.47 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $144.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $145.41. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $124.17 and a one year high of $179.61. The company has a market cap of $2.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.30.

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). The firm had revenue of $117.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.67 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 163.45% and a net margin of 24.56%. The company’s revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.10 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.