Impax Asset Management Group plc Decreases Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Impax Asset Management Group plc lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 26.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 414,890 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 146,782 shares during the quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc’s holdings in Apple were worth $92,160,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Strategic Blueprint LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 3.0% in the first quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 163,762 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,377,000 after purchasing an additional 4,819 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Apple by 2.4% in the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 581,748 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $129,224,000 after purchasing an additional 13,711 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 9.6% in the first quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 24,409 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,422,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148 shares during the last quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 7.5% in the first quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 69,680 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $15,478,000 after purchasing an additional 4,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tilson Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 6.0% in the first quarter. Tilson Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,840 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,519,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group upped their price objective on Apple from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price objective (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.98.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $224.90 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $211.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $213.13. The stock has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.13, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.16. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.