Parnassus Investments LLC Lowers Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Parnassus Investments LLC decreased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 5.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,732,051 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 203,520 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 2.0% of Parnassus Investments LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Parnassus Investments LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $829,000,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the first quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Avid Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 28.3% in the first quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $935,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares during the period. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.4% during the first quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $13,772,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. Finally, TruWealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 2.8% during the first quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,045,000 after buying an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. HSBC set a $220.00 target price on Apple and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $190.67 to $205.82 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $240.80.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $230.03 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $221.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $212.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.78%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

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