Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas cut its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 12.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,955,786 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 708,310 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 4.6% of Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Apple were worth $1,100,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,199,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Apple by 28.3% in the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $935,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 4.6% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,045,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp increased its stake in Apple by 3,368.2% in the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $113,062,000 after purchasing an additional 438,471 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $230.56 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.99, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $210.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $213.06.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.78%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.60.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.