Apple Inc. $AAPL Stake Lessened by Mirabaud & Cie SA

Mirabaud & Cie SA lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 24.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 120,383 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 39,680 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 9.1% of Mirabaud & Cie SA’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Mirabaud & Cie SA’s holdings in Apple were worth $26,741,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $349,532,608,000 after acquiring an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 6,307,413 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 13.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 14.3% during the fourth 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 worth $26,220,566,000 after acquiring an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Moffett Nathanson raised Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $266.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.05.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. The trade was 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 corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $239.69 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $219.28 and its 200 day moving average is $212.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

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.