AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Trims Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 10.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,885,815 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 593,526 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 5.1% of AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,002,423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.2% in the second quarter. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. now owns 3,552 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $729,000 after buying an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.4% during the first quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,772,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust increased its holdings in Apple by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 195,482 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,107,000 after acquiring an additional 4,543 shares during the period. Andina Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 209.2% in the 1st quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 6,786 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 4,591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Plum Street Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Plum Street Advisors LLC now owns 7,889 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,752,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,095,030.54. This represents a 19.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total value of $1,038,790.61. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 8,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,168,373.35. This represents a 32.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their price target on Apple from $180.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $203.07 to $246.99 in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $298.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Melius raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.22.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $278.63 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $263.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $231.59. The stock has a market cap of $4.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 42.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $280.38.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is 13.92%.

Apple 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.