Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Position Increased by Concord Wealth Partners

Concord Wealth Partners grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 79,103 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the period. Apple makes up 3.2% of Concord Wealth Partners’ holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Concord Wealth Partners’ holdings in Apple were worth $19,809,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Concord Asset Management LLC VA raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 68,523 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $17,159,000 after acquiring an additional 2,127 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its stake in Apple by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 254,537 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $61,776,000 after purchasing an additional 13,533 shares during the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 55,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,988,000 after purchasing an additional 2,209 shares in the last quarter. Brewster Financial Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $254,000. Finally, Scharf Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 17,296 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,331,000 after buying an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Argus raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $245.52.

Apple Trading Down 2.7 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $217.90 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.08 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $230.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $233.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.