GSA Capital Partners LLP Sells 28,198 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• GSA Capital Partners LLP sold 28,198 shares of Apple, reducing its stake by 85.5%, leaving them with 4,775 shares valued at approximately $1.06 million.
• Numerous institutional investors are actively trading Apple shares, with notable purchases including Norges Bank investing nearly $46.87 billion and GAMMA Investing LLC increasing its position by over 25,000%.
• Apple recently reported quarterly earnings that exceeded analysts' expectations, with earnings per share of $1.57, contributing to a revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter.

GSA Capital Partners LLP lowered its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 85.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,775 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 28,198 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP's holdings in Apple were worth $1,061,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,260,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.9% during the first quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Sharpepoint LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.5% during the first quarter. Sharpepoint LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redwood Financial Network Corp boosted its position in Apple by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 8,720 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,184,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $239.69. 54,829,143 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 47,688,568. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.11. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $219.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $212.64.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the business's 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 directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $240.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $217.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Barclays upped their price objective on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $239.05.

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.