Castellan Group Increases Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Castellan Group raised its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,974 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 192 shares during the quarter. Castellan Group’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 5.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 6.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $263.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 target price (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.85.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $194.27 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $220.98 and a 200-day moving average of $230.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.08 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS 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, sell-side analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Apple

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.