Highland Capital Management LLC Has $97.86 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Highland Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 390,801 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 6,428 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 5.6% of Highland Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $97,864,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Gries Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 33,024 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,270,000 after buying an additional 879 shares during the period. Equita Financial Network Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Equita Financial Network Inc. now owns 4,645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,163,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC now owns 59,931 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $15,008,000 after acquiring an additional 12,766 shares during the period. Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $1,067,000. Finally, Hanson & Doremus Investment Management increased its position in Apple by 36.7% during the 4th quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 40,700 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,192,000 after purchasing an additional 10,919 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Four equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.65.

Apple Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $223.75 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $231.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $233.43. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.08 and a 1 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s 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.