Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Brown Advisory Inc.

Brown Advisory Inc. lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,545,975 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 78,241 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 1.4% of Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,009,797,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,999,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,307,413 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Apple by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research 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 issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.98.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

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

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $227.16 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $213.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $212.81.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.78%.

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

Apple 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.