Allodium Investment Consultants LLC Takes Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Allodium Investment Consultants LLC purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 20,372.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,542,863,000 after buying an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 25,285.2% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 9,628,864 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,411,260,000 after buying an additional 9,590,933 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $241.76 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $3.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $239.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $233.58. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $290.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.88.

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.