Hoese & Co LLP Grows Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Hoese & Co LLP grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 164.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,472 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,160 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 0.8% of Hoese & Co LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Hoese & Co LLP’s holdings in Apple were worth $869,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 59,763 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,966,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Cove Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Cove Private Wealth LLC now owns 62,009 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $15,528,000 after purchasing an additional 10,085 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 734,077 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $183,828,000 after purchasing an additional 12,349 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 169,584 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,470,000 after purchasing an additional 15,302 shares during the period. Finally, Corundum Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 27,851 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,974,000 after purchasing an additional 3,258 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Moffett Nathanson restated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 target price (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. KeyCorp restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer cut Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Maxim Group raised their target price on Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.88.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $239.07 on Monday. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $164.08 and a one year high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.95, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a fifty day moving average of $237.56 and a 200 day moving average of $234.14.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related 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 transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple 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.