Barings LLC Sells 3,171 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Barings LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 19.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,729 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,171 shares during the quarter. Barings LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,099,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. MKT Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 12,269 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,777,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,076 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,321,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Freedom Wealth Alliance LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Freedom Wealth Alliance LLC now owns 16,091 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,653,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Adaptive Financial Consulting LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Adaptive Financial Consulting LLC now owns 2,606 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $339,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Private Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. PFG Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,644 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,260,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. 58.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 15,419 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.56, for a total transaction of $2,753,216.64. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,363,619.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Apple from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 5th. Credit Suisse Group increased their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 20th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Apple from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.86.

Apple Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $189.46 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $124.17 and a 12-month high of $198.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $186.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.74.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The iPhone maker reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $81.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.79 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 164.92% and a net margin of 24.68%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.13%.

About Apple

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.