Verity Asset Management Inc. Sells 11,693 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Verity Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 61.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,348 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 11,693 shares during the quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $1,632,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after purchasing an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL traded down $1.19 during trading on Friday, hitting $231.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 56,003,275 shares, compared to its average volume of 63,552,584. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.16. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $209.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $213.33.

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

Apple declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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. 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 0.4%. Apple's payout ratio is 15.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $240.00 price target (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $237.60.

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.