Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Increased by Affinity Wealth Management LLC

Affinity Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 26,830 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 670 shares during the period. Apple makes up 1.2% of Affinity Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Affinity Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,719,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the third 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 shares of Apple by 5.3% during the third 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 shares of Apple by 6.5% during 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 6.6% during the third 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 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 period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. DA Davidson set a $290.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Apple from $275.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, March 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.65.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $212.69 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $233.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $233.60. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.08 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

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.