Bay Rivers Group Decreases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Bay Rivers Group lessened its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 69,899 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,449 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 8.5% of Bay Rivers Group’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Bay Rivers Group’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,504,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in Apple by 21.1% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $787,631,000 after buying an additional 588,427 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in Apple by 12.8% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 3,097,244 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $721,658,000 after buying an additional 350,505 shares during the period. Curated Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 5.8% in the third quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 53,013 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,352,000 after buying an additional 2,913 shares during the period. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 46.8% in the third quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,863 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,599,000 after buying an additional 2,187 shares during the period. Finally, Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 6.6% in the third quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 137,845 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $32,042,000 after buying an additional 8,483 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.65.

Apple Stock Up 1.9 %

Apple stock opened at $218.27 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.08 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $231.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $233.26. The company has a market capitalization of $3.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio 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.