Aspire Private Capital LLC Boosts Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Aspire Private Capital LLC grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 15.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,713 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 3,415 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 1.6% of Aspire Private Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Aspire Private Capital LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $6,439,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $22,121,656,000 after acquiring an additional 5,893,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Apple to $260.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $262.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Argus upgraded Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $243.88.

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Apple Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $220.84 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.08 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $236.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $234.12.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 15.87%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company's stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Company Profile

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.

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