Patten Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Patten Group Inc. lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 90,068 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,651 shares during the period. Apple makes up 4.7% of Patten Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Patten Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,341,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,995,750 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $221,753,959,000 after buying an additional 8,734,393 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 578,897,858 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $112,288,818,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,084 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 116,483.5% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $74,002,245,000 after purchasing an additional 569,066,184 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 291,538,165 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $56,396,763,000 after purchasing an additional 6,367,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 234,017,381 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $38,589,468,000 after purchasing an additional 7,736,013 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 2.1 %

AAPL stock opened at $173.31 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $181.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $182.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $155.98 and a 1-year high of $199.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.29.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Barclays cut their price target on Apple from $160.00 to $158.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on Apple from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Piper Sandler Companies lowered Apple to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $220.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $189.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.27.

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.