Quent Capital LLC Has $23.90 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 124,118 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,507 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 3.2% of Quent Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $23,896,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 worth $221,753,959,000 after purchasing an additional 8,734,393 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 116,483.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $74,002,245,000 after purchasing an additional 569,066,184 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 291,538,165 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $56,396,763,000 after purchasing an additional 6,367,053 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Apple by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 234,017,381 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $38,589,468,000 after purchasing an additional 7,736,013 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Apple by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 208,655,323 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,110,586,000 after purchasing an additional 25,926,552 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $166.00 target price for the company. DZ Bank reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.08.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Down 1.9 %

Apple stock opened at $169.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $162.80 and a fifty-two week high of $199.62. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $176.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $182.31.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.88 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Apple’s payout ratio is 14.95%.

About Apple

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.