1,812 Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Bought by Verity Asset Management Inc.

Verity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 1,812 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $250,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $221,753,959,000 after buying an additional 8,734,393 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings 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 valued at $32,527,162,000 after buying an additional 4,831,418 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings 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 valued at $16,889,649,000 after buying an additional 9,411,018 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $14,097,970,000 after buying an additional 1,155,915 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $11,001,469,000 after buying an additional 8,716,964 shares in the last quarter. 57.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $152.59 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.91, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.30. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $124.17 and a one year high of $179.61. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $144.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $145.33.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last announced 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). Apple had a return on equity of 163.45% and a net margin of 24.56%. The business had revenue of $117.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 16th. Investors of record on Monday, February 13th were given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 10th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Apple from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Apple from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Apple in a research note on Sunday, March 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $199.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Cowen dropped their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $168.24.

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.