Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Grows Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 82,890,182 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 844,896 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 4.2% of Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $13,668,591,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. MKT Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 12,269 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,777,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,076 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,321,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Wealth Alliance LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Freedom Wealth Alliance LLC now owns 16,091 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,653,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Adaptive Financial Consulting LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Adaptive Financial Consulting LLC now owns 2,606 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFG Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. PFG Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,644 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,260,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. 58.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. StockNews.com started coverage on Apple in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. 58.com restated a “maintains” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, June 5th. Loop Capital downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, May 22nd. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Apple from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $198.86.

Apple Stock Down 2.9 %

Apple stock opened at $177.56 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $186.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market cap of $2.78 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $124.17 and a twelve month high of $198.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The iPhone maker reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $81.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.79 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 164.92% and a net margin of 24.68%. Apple’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.13%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 15,419 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.56, for a total transaction of $2,753,216.64. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,363,619.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.