Bartlett & Co. LLC Trims Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Bartlett & Co. LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,848,380 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 19,367 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 4.8% of Bartlett & Co. LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Bartlett & Co. LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $240,466,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Robinson Value Management Ltd. bought a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 75.4% in the third quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 249 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Cheyne Capital Management UK LLP raised its holdings in Apple by 200.0% in the third quarter. Cheyne Capital Management UK LLP now owns 275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the period. Ramsey Quantitative Systems acquired a new stake in Apple in the second quarter worth $55,000. Finally, Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the third quarter worth $55,000. 57.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 18th. National Bank Financial cut their target price on shares of Apple to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 20th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Apple from $153.00 to $158.00 in a report on Friday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $168.24.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $155.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $146.64 and a 200-day moving average of $145.41. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $124.17 and a one year high of $179.61. The company has a market cap of $2.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.30. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by ($0.05). The firm 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%. The business’s revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 16th. Investors of record on Monday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 10th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.62%.

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.