Sarasin & Partners LLP Sells 979,589 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sarasin & Partners LLP trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 35.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,783,846 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 979,589 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 4.2% of Sarasin & Partners LLP's holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Sarasin & Partners LLP's holdings in Apple were worth $396,246,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Burkett Financial Services LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the first quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,199,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,337,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp raised its position in shares of Apple by 3,368.2% during the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $113,062,000 after acquiring an additional 438,471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Apple by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 764,075 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $192,700,000 after acquiring an additional 83,997 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $211.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $203.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $217.41. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank downgraded Apple to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $170.62 to $188.32 in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.27.

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.

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