Kensington Investment Counsel LLC Increases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kensington Investment Counsel LLC grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,854 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,193 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 5.2% of Kensington Investment Counsel LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,199,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. MKT Advisors LLC lifted its position in Apple by 0.5% in the second quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 12,269 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,777,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP lifted its position in Apple by 1.0% in the second quarter. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP now owns 6,339 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $867,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Aufman Associates Inc lifted its position in Apple by 0.9% in the second quarter. Aufman Associates Inc now owns 7,674 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,049,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Silver Oak Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Silver Oak Advisory Group Inc. now owns 3,925 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $537,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Apple by 1.4% in the third quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,993 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $690,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. 57.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Up 1.4 %

AAPL stock opened at $152.59 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $144.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $145.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.30. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $124.17 and a 12 month 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.93 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $117.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.67 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.56% and a return on equity of 163.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.10 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 16th. Investors of record on Monday, February 13th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 10th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. 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 research report on Friday, February 3rd. Cowen reduced their target price 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. UBS Group set a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Apple from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $195.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.24.

Apple 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.