Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Sells 26,035 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,313,992 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 26,035 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 5.1% of Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,581,150,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 3,368.2% during the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $113,062,000 after acquiring an additional 438,471 shares during the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 764,075 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $192,700,000 after acquiring an additional 83,997 shares during the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,308,000 after buying an additional 1,779 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Berkshire Bank boosted its stake in Apple by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 89,580 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,433,000 after buying an additional 2,360 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $199.20 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $201.28 and its 200-day moving average is $223.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Sunday, June 1st. Raymond James dropped their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Jefferies Financial Group restated an “underperform” rating and set a $170.62 price objective (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.