Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stake Increased by JCIC Asset Management Inc.

JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 114,026 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,465 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 11.6% of JCIC Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. JCIC Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $28,554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. State Street Corp raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 worth $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Apple by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position 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 worth $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. Maxim Group boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research 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 given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other 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 value 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $245.55 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $240.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $232.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.98, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its 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 net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

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.