Stevens Capital Management LP Boosts Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Stevens Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1,959.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 121,216 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 115,330 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 4.0% of Stevens Capital Management LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Stevens Capital Management LP’s holdings in Apple were worth $28,243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bull Oak Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $110,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America lifted their price target on Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer downgraded Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.52.

Apple Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $227.63 on Monday. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $241.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $231.04. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. 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.