Alliancebernstein L.P. Has $6.26 Billion Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 28,191,897 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,613,031 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 2.3% of Alliancebernstein L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.19% of Apple worth $6,262,266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at about $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 25,934.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after acquiring an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price objective on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday. Finally, HSBC set a $220.00 price objective on Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $240.80.

Apple Trading Up 1.8%

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $234.07 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $221.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $212.39. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.