Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 57,953 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $13,328,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smith Group Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC now owns 249,880 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $62,575,000 after purchasing an additional 1,384 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in shares of Apple by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 12,442,651 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,115,889,000 after purchasing an additional 561,511 shares during the period. Verus Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $1,649,000. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. boosted its holdings in Apple by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 273,640 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $68,525,000 after buying an additional 19,283 shares during the period. Finally, DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 12,818 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,210,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. UBS Group increased their target price on Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, March 14th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, DA Davidson set a $290.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.65.

Apple Stock Up 1.1 %

AAPL stock opened at $220.73 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.08 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $231.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $233.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Apple 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.