Scharf Investments LLC Trims Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Scharf Investments LLC decreased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 20,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,208 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 0.1% of Scharf Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. Scharf Investments LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,814,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its stake in Apple by 20.0% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 2,615,701 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $456,728,000 after purchasing an additional 435,891 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its position in Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 240,628 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,016,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares during the period. Markel Corp raised its stake in Apple by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Markel Corp now owns 1,206,990 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $210,752,000 after acquiring an additional 8,450 shares during the last quarter. Camden Capital LLC lifted its position in Apple by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Camden Capital LLC now owns 156,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,305,000 after acquiring an additional 13,200 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Island Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Island Capital LLC now owns 135,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $23,629,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Fundamental Research upped their price target on Apple to $168.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 8th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, November 8th. UBS Group set a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Bank Of America (Bofa) lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $189.00 to $160.00 in a report on Friday, September 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Apple from $170.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $166.44.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 20,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.72, for a total value of $3,004,144.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,685,423.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 20,200 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.72, for a total value of $3,004,144.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 31,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,685,423.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 176,299 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.95, for a total value of $27,493,829.05. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 110,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,259,454.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $141.11 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $2.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $138.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $148.14. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.17 and a 1-year high of $179.61.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 27th. The iPhone maker reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.90% and a net margin of 25.31%. The company had revenue of $90.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.19 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 7th were issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 4th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.06%.

Apple Profile

(Get Rating)

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. It also sells various related services. In addition, 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.