Eagle Asset Management Inc. Has $121.76 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 16.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 536,460 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 76,601 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $121,755,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.5% in the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,249,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Lowery Thomas LLC grew its position in Apple by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Latitude Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,016,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $237.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $241.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.81.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research note on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Oppenheimer downgraded Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.