Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Reduces Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,098,665 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,322,800 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 3.3% of Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,119,236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Apple by 0.7% during 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 buying an additional 8,734,393 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Apple by 2.1% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 237,910,783 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $32,527,162,000 after buying an additional 4,831,418 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Apple by 8.2% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 123,534,393 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,889,649,000 after buying an additional 9,411,018 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Apple by 1.5% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 80,739,774 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,097,970,000 after buying an additional 1,155,915 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its position in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.60% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $150.47 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $144.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $145.41. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.17 and a 1-year high of $179.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The firm has a market cap of $2.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.30.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last issued its 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. Credit Suisse Group set a $184.00 price target on Apple in a research report on Monday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $175.00 target price on Apple in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Apple in a report on Sunday, March 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $199.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Raymond James reduced their target price on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.24.

About Apple

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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.