EULAV Asset Management Decreases Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

EULAV Asset Management trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 39.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 51,061 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 33,000 shares during the period. EULAV Asset Management's holdings in Apple were worth $11,342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,260,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 3.9% in the first quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Disciplined Investments LLC boosted its position in Apple by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC now owns 7,166 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,794,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC grew its stake in Apple by 1.3% in the first quarter. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC now owns 4,016 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $892,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Redwood Financial Network Corp raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 8,720 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,184,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of AAPL traded up $0.80 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $230.11. 19,336,211 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,990,016. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $213.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $212.93. The firm has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.16.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a $0.26 dividend. 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 0.5%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $237.37.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

About Apple

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.