Ballentine Partners LLC Reduces Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Ballentine Partners LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. by 0.4%, owning 367,807 shares worth approximately $75.5 million as of the last reporting period.
• Vanguard Group Inc. significantly increased its stake in Apple by 0.4%, now owning over 1.4 billion shares valued at approximately $311.2 billion.
• Analysts have set mixed ratings on Apple, with targets ranging from $200.00 to $310.00, resulting in a consensus rating of Moderate Buy.

Ballentine Partners LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 0.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 367,807 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,459 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 1.1% of Ballentine Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Ballentine Partners LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $75,463,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $311,157,662,000 after buying an additional 5,005,297 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after acquiring an additional 6,307,413 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its position in Apple by 573,627.2% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $39,065,374,000 after acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Phillip Securities cut Apple from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, September 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $266.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Moffett Nathanson upgraded shares of Apple from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Wedbush set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $247.49.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 43,013 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,922 shares of company stock worth $64,320,190 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $256.69 on Tuesday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $233.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $214.96. The company has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

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.

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