Private Management Group Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Private Management Group Inc. cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 29.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 15,763 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 6,633 shares during the quarter. Private Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,877,000. First National Bank of Hutchinson raised its stake in shares of Apple by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,845,000 after purchasing an additional 6,982 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,544,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $134,554,000 after purchasing an additional 69,207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,742,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America lifted their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley set a $240.00 price target on Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 25th. 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.73.

Apple Stock Up 3.8%

Shares of AAPL opened at $238.47 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $217.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.92. The firm has a market cap of $3.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.19, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.11.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. 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. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company 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.