Foundations Investment Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Foundations Investment Advisors LLC has recently increased its investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. According to a disclosure made to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the firm now owns 363,124 shares of Apple after acquiring an additional 21,507 shares during this period. Apple accounts for approximately 1.8% of Foundations Investment Advisors LLC's overall portfolio, positioning it as the firm’s 10th largest investment. By the end of the last quarter, the value of Foundations Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple was estimated at $90,934,000.

Other institutional investors have also adjusted their stakes in Apple. For example, International Assets Investment Management LLC made a dramatic increase in its ownership by 20,372.7% in the third quarter, bringing its total to 94,347,510 shares, which are valued at $219,829,700,000 after adding 93,886,664 shares. Similarly, State Street Corp enhanced its stake in Apple by 10.6%, resulting in ownership of 584,010,284 shares worth $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its share by 6.5%, owning 333,857,500 shares valued at $77,542,863,000 following a purchase of 20,483,787 shares. Furthermore, FMR LLC raised its stake by 5.3%, now holding 363,859,362 shares worth $84,779,231,000 after purchasing 18,224,005 additional shares. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. also boosted its position by 6.6%, bringing its totals to 94,942,731 shares valued at $22,121,656,000 after adding 5,893,741 shares. In total, institutional investors own 67.73% of Apple’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Provide Insights

Several analysts have issued reports about Apple’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating as of February 19th, while KeyCorp maintained an “underweight” rating with a target price of $200.00. Needham & Company LLC gave Apple a “buy” rating, setting a target price of $260.00 on January 31st. Similarly, Monness Crespi & Hardt adjusted their price target to $245.00 with a “buy” rating. Bank of America raised its target from $253.00 to $265.00 on the same date with a “buy” rating as well. Overall, four analysts have a sell rating on the stock, ten rated it as hold, while twenty-one provided a buy rating and two analysts gave a strong buy rating. MarketBeat reports that Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $243.65.

Apple Stock Performance

The stock of Apple opened at $214.10 on Friday. The company maintains a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, along with a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The 50-day simple moving average is $232.19, while the 200-day average is $233.33. Apple has a market capitalization of $3.22 trillion and a price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of 33.98, with a price-to-earnings-growth (PEG) ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. Over the past year, Apple’s stock has seen a low of $164.08 and a high of $260.10.

Earnings Report and Dividend Declaration

On January 30th, Apple announced its latest earnings results, showcasing an earnings per share (EPS) of $2.40, which surpassed the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. The company achieved a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Analysts project that Apple will report an EPS of 7.28 for the current fiscal year. In terms of dividends, Apple declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, which was paid on February 13th to shareholders recorded by February 10th, indicating an annual dividend of $1.00 and a yield of 0.47%. The current dividend payout ratio stands at 15.87%.

About Apple Inc.

Apple Inc. is engaged in the design, manufacture, and marketing of a variety of consumer electronics including smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories globally. Its product lineup includes the iPhone, Mac computers, iPads, as well as wearables and accessories such as AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.

investment, stocks, Apple