B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management Has $10.03 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 77,229 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,453 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 2.5% of B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.7% during 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $14,097,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,155,915 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Apple by 13.1% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 71,060,708 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,407,910,000 after acquiring an additional 8,230,300 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,874,884 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,779,544,000 after buying an additional 698,686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Apple by 0.9% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 48,826,270 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,525,555,000 after buying an additional 424,839 shares during the last quarter. 57.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Apple from $170.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Apple in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $195.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. UBS Group set a $180.00 price target on Apple in a research note on Monday, April 3rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Apple from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.74.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $175.16 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $164.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $150.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.94. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.17 and a fifty-two week high of $176.39.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The iPhone maker reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.08. Apple had a return on equity of 165.72% and a net margin of 24.49%. The business had revenue of $94.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 15th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.30%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 4th that permits the company to repurchase $90.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 187,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.76, for a total value of $29,991,744.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,253,004.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 77,817 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.11, for a total value of $12,926,181.87. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $81,363,335.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 187,730 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.76, for a total value of $29,991,744.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,253,004.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 439,529 shares of company stock valued at $71,703,657 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.