Holland Advisory Services Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Holland Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,026 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 749 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 1.8% of Holland Advisory Services Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Holland Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,545,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 116,483.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $74,002,245,000 after purchasing an additional 569,066,184 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $21,746,940,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 208,655,323 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $27,110,586,000 after purchasing an additional 25,926,552 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 60.0% during the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 46,932,352 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,103,464,000 after purchasing an additional 17,604,799 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 154.9% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 23,295,770 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,729,270,000 after purchasing an additional 14,157,430 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, February 2nd. DA Davidson started coverage on Apple in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $166.00 target price on the stock. Redburn Partners cut Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.34.

Apple Stock Down 1.2 %

AAPL stock opened at $165.00 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.70, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $162.80 and a 1-year high of $199.62. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $174.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $182.17.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.88 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 14.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Company 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.