Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV cut its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 23.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,236,076 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,881,749 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 5.0% of KBC Group NV’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,209,612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Apple by 0.7% during the 1st 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 increased its position in Apple by 2.3% during the 1st 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 increased its position in Apple by 116,483.5% during the 4th 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 increased its position in Apple by 0.9% during the 1st 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 increased its position in Apple by 3.4% during the 1st 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. 58.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 31st. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 4th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $198.00 to $189.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, October 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $197.82.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $186.40 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $176.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $180.18. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.17 and a 1-year high of $198.23. The company has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.46, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.30.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $89.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.34 billion. Apple had a net margin of 25.31% and a return on equity of 160.78%. The business’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.29 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 13th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.69%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 65,536 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.11, for a total value of $11,279,400.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,445 shares in the company, valued at $23,483,548.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 65,536 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.11, for a total value of $11,279,400.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,445 shares in the company, valued at $23,483,548.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 240,569 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.50, for a total transaction of $41,498,152.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $565,809,142.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 439,585 shares of company stock worth $76,485,550 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.