Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Staley Capital Advisers Inc.

Staley Capital Advisers Inc. cut its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 160,222 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 960 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 1.8% of Staley Capital Advisers Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Staley Capital Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $40,123,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,542,863,000 after buying an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,099,411 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $24,566,054,000 after buying an additional 3,156,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 91,568,390 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $21,335,435,000 after acquiring an additional 1,742,087 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Maxim Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.9%

AAPL opened at $206.86 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.83, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $205.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $226.43. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.