Apple Inc. $AAPL Stock Position Decreased by Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P.

Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P. cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,612 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 637 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 2.1% of Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,578,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,307,413 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 14.3% in 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 valued at $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the senior vice president directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Down 0.0%

AAPL stock opened at $239.69 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $219.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $212.86. 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 has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.37, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. UBS Group increased their target price on Apple from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.05.

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.