Covenant Asset Management LLC Decreases Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Covenant Asset Management LLC decreased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 92,710 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,717 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 4.5% of Covenant Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Covenant Asset Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $20,594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $84,999,145,000 after buying an additional 6,307,413 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted 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 during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 14.3% during 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 worth $26,220,566,000 after buying an additional 13,137,968 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $266.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson upgraded Apple from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $239.05.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was 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 approximately $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $0.67 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $237.81. The company had a trading volume of 23,367,216 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,619,613. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $217.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $212.92. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.11, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business'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. Analysts forecast 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 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.