Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Sells 1,145 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Thornburg Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Apple Inc. by 27.0%, owning 3,103 shares valued at approximately $689,000 after selling 1,145 shares in the first quarter.
• Coinciding with these changes, several other institutional investors have also adjusted their positions, with overall institutional ownership at 67.73% of Apple's stock.
• Apple reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.57, exceeding analysts' estimates, with a revenue increase of 9.6% year-over-year, amounting to $94.04 billion.

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 27.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,103 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,145 shares during the quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $689,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 25,934.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $133,425,490,000 after purchasing an additional 59,835,676 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,272,653,000 after buying an additional 20,966,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $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 available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.1%

Apple stock traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $239.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,662,460 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,457,375. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $219.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $212.40. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast 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, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 25th. HSBC set a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $240.00 target price (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Apple from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $238.99.

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.