Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Holdings Raised by Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas

Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas increased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 572,422 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,284 shares during the period. Apple comprises 6.7% of Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas’ investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas’ holdings in Apple were worth $79,109,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth $1,890,884,000. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 53.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 30,235,823 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,178,590,000 after acquiring an additional 10,471,342 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Apple by 8.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 9,411,018 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 8,734,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 12.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 8,716,964 shares during the last quarter. 57.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered 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. Bank of America upped their price target on Apple from $153.00 to $158.00 in a report on Friday, February 3rd. National Bank Financial lowered their price target on Apple to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $125.00 price target on Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 24th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Apple from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.24.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $155.85 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $124.17 and a 12-month high of $179.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $146.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $145.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.30.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.93 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $117.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.10 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 10th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.62%.

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.