Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stake Trimmed by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,727,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 159,653 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 3.0% of Principal Financial Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.14% of Apple worth $5,440,879,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 5,575,218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,396,146,000 after buying an additional 213,180 shares in the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC boosted its position in Apple by 114.4% during the 4th quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 398,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $99,873,000 after acquiring an additional 212,762 shares during the period. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC grew its stake in Apple by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC now owns 21,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,435,000 after acquiring an additional 685 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP now owns 68,478 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $17,148,000 after purchasing an additional 2,453 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 820,871 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $205,563,000 after purchasing an additional 75,166 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Maxim Group boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. KeyCorp raised shares of Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.00.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $199.74 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $217.94 and its 200-day moving average is $229.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.92 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.70, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

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.