Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Position Lifted by Fred Alger Management LLC

Fred Alger Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,822,803 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,495 shares during the period. Apple comprises 5.4% of Fred Alger Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,123,713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Amara Financial LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth about $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC grew its stake in Apple by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Moffett Nathanson reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Apple from $273.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.52.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 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 position. The transaction 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 stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Up 0.3 %

AAPL stock opened at $233.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $3.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $241.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.96.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 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.