Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reiterated by BGC Financial in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Several hedge funds and institutional investors recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lowe FS boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the third quarter. Lowe FS now owns 2,371 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the period. Marquette Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $269,000. Conestoga Capital Advisors boosted its position in shares of Apple by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors now owns 2,845 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Wealthcare Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Apple by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Capital Management now owns 3,461 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $364,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the period. Finally, Oakmont Partners boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Oakmont Partners now owns 3,856 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $406,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of Apple from $160.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. OTR Global downgraded shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 12th. BTIG Research decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $160.00 to $141.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo reissued an “average” rating and set a $135.00 price target (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Finally, Piper Jaffray reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, forty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $137.22.

Shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) traded down 6.57% during trading on Tuesday, reaching $93.42. 132,180,762 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged. Apple has a 52 week low of $92.00 and a 52 week high of $134.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $520.85 billion and a PE ratio of 10.13. The company’s 50-day moving average is $104.76 and its 200 day moving average is $113.41.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 26th. The iPhone maker reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.05. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.06 EPS. The firm had revenue of $75.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $77.10 billion. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Apple will post $9.48 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 8th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%.

In other news, SVP Daniel J. Riccio sold 13,588 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.81, for a total transaction of $1,641,566.28. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,923,611.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 90,593 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.48, for a total value of $10,914,644.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) designs, manufactures and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, and a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. The Company’s products and services include iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod, Apple TV, a portfolio of consumer and professional software applications, the iOS and OS X operating systems, iCloud, and a variety of accessory, service and support offerings. The Company also delivers digital content and applications through the iTunes Store, App StoreSM, iBookstoreSM, and Mac App Store. The Company distributes its products worldwide through its retail stores, online stores, and direct sales force, as well as through third-party cellular network carriers, wholesalers, retailers, and value-added resellers. In February 2012, the Company acquired app-search engine Chomp.

12 Month Chart for NASDAQ:AAPL

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