EQ Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases New Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

EQ Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,620 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $406,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Apple by 5.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $22,121,656,000 after acquiring an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $223.19 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $230.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $233.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.43, a PEG 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.

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, beating 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Apple from $275.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. 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. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $230.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $245.52.

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.