Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Has $806,000 Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC cut its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 98.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,220 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 153,854 shares during the quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Amara Financial LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after acquiring an additional 2,565 shares during the last quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners increased its position in Apple by 12.8% during the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $59,122,000 after acquiring an additional 28,799 shares during the period. Finally, Catalyst Financial Partners LLC increased its position in Apple by 4.2% during the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 96,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,505,000 after acquiring an additional 3,935 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 20th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.65.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $220.73 on Tuesday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $231.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $233.41. The company has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.08 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

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