D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. Sells 3,798 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 183,175 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,798 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 5.5% of D L Carlson Investment Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. D L Carlson Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $25,315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. UBS Group set a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, March 7th. BNP Paribas lowered Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 3rd. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price objective on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Two investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.24.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $152.99 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.97, a P/E/G 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $145.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $145.38. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.17 and a 1-year high of $179.61.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last released its earnings results 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 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 revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 13th were given a $0.23 dividend. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 10th. Apple’s 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.