State of Michigan Retirement System Sells 56,300 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

State of Michigan Retirement System lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,625,825 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 56,300 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 5.5% of State of Michigan Retirement System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Apple were worth $897,271,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,995,750 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $221,753,959,000 after purchasing an additional 8,734,393 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.3% during the first quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 915,560,382 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $150,975,907,000 after purchasing an additional 20,424,207 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 116,483.5% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $74,002,245,000 after purchasing an additional 569,066,184 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.9% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 285,171,112 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $46,918,015,000 after purchasing an additional 2,421,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 234,017,381 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $38,589,468,000 after purchasing an additional 7,736,013 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.51% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $176.65 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.17 and a 1-year high of $198.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The company has a market capitalization of $2.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $176.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $179.38.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.07. Apple had a net margin of 24.68% and a return on equity of 164.92%. The business had revenue of $89.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.29 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 31,685 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.69, for a total transaction of $5,661,792.65. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,237,944.09. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 31,685 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.69, for a total transaction of $5,661,792.65. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,237,944.09. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 65,536 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.11, for a total transaction of $11,279,400.96. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,445 shares in the company, valued at $23,483,548.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 455,004 shares of company stock valued at $79,238,767 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Apple from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Apple from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Apple from $167.00 to $166.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $197.82.

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.