Coleford Investment Management Ltd. Has $17.46 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Coleford Investment Management Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 78,578 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,357 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 4.9% of Coleford Investment Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Coleford Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,455,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Apple by 25,934.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 23,555.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after buying an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays upped their price target on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.37.

Apple Trading Down 0.2%

Apple stock opened at $232.14 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.23, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $215.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $212.91.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.