Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 12.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 81,062 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,678 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 2.1% of Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $20,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 10.6% during the third 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 last quarter. FMR LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 6.5% in the third 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted 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 worth $22,121,656,000 after acquiring an additional 5,893,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the third 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 last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Maxim Group boosted their target price on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Raymond James lifted their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Finally, Loop Capital lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $235.74 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a 50-day moving average of $238.36 and a 200-day moving average of $233.93. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.08 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.87%.

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.