Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. Sells 44,588 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. decreased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 13.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 284,070 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 44,588 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 1.2% of Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A.'s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A.'s holdings in Apple were worth $71,137,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 6.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. China Renaissance began coverage on Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $241.00 price target on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL traded down $3.89 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $198.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 60,780,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 55,606,411. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.55, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $200.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $223.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.