Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. Sells 4,770 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. trimmed its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,054 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 4,770 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 1.4% of Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD.'s holdings in Apple were worth $7,526,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Drystone LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $234.86.

Apple Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of AAPL opened at $196.45 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $201.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $223.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

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