Griffin Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 180,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 5,173 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 5.3% of Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $45,275,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,121,656,000 after buying an additional 5,893,741 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on AAPL. 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. Moffett Nathanson reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. DA Davidson set a $290.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.65.

Apple Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $218.27 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.65, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.08 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $231.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $233.33. 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 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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.