MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH Sells 33,614 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 14.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 196,462 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 33,614 shares during the period. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH’s holdings in Apple were worth $37,825,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 0.7% in 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 during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $74,002,245,000 after purchasing an additional 569,066,184 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 2.2% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 291,538,165 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $56,396,763,000 after acquiring an additional 6,367,053 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Apple by 3.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 234,017,381 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $38,589,468,000 after acquiring an additional 7,736,013 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Apple by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 208,655,323 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $27,110,586,000 after acquiring an additional 25,926,552 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $172.69 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $176.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $162.80 and a twelve month high of $199.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 14.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $189.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. DZ Bank reissued a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Apple from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, DA Davidson initiated coverage on Apple in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $166.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.08.

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.