California Public Employees Retirement System Acquires 5,350,006 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,282,448 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,350,006 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 4.5% of California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.22% of Apple worth $4,876,034,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Fernwood Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fernwood Investment Management LLC now owns 64,570 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,924,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the period. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 63,320 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,751,000 after buying an additional 831 shares during the period. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC now owns 136,609 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $18,879,000 after buying an additional 3,276 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 461,474 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $63,762,000 after buying an additional 3,488 shares during the period. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth $16,581,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.60% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $151.60 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.74, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50-day moving average is $142.69 and its 200-day moving average is $145.90. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.17 and a fifty-two week high of $179.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.93 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $117.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $121.67 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.56% and a return on equity of 163.45%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.10 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 13th were given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, November 8th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, February 6th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $167.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, National Bank Financial reduced their price target on shares of Apple to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.94.

Apple Company Profile

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Apple, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and other varieties of related services. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, Greater China, Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific. The Americas segment includes North and South America.