Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Cuts Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 283,781 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,211 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 1.6% of Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in Apple were worth $66,121,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter worth $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth about $834,368,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,909,457,000 after buying an additional 3,245,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tairen Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $588,952,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $249.79 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.08, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $254.28. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $234.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $225.06.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

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.