Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Jennison Associates LLC

Key Points

• Jennison Associates LLC has reduced its stake in Apple Inc. by 7.3%, selling 2,899,281 shares and now holds approximately 36.6 million shares, making it the company's third-largest holding.
• Insider SVP Deirdre O'Brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple at an average price of $223.20, resulting in a 20.30% decrease in her ownership of the stock.
• Wall Street analysts maintain a Moderate Buy average rating for Apple stock with a rising price target of approximately $237.37, while the company reported a quarterly earnings beat with $1.57 EPS.

Jennison Associates LLC lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 7.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 36,585,441 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 2,899,281 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 5.7% of Jennison Associates LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Jennison Associates LLC owned 0.24% of Apple worth $8,126,724,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $147,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $266.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $237.37.

Apple Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded down $0.42 during trading on Monday, reaching $232.14. The stock had a trading volume of 39,382,353 shares, compared to its average volume of 55,684,536. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two 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 business's 50-day moving average price is $215.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $212.71. The company has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.23, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.11.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple's payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

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.