LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Cuts Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 157,581 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,031 shares during the period. Apple comprises 3.2% of LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $35,003,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Burkett Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,199,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Apple by 28.3% in the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $935,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,337,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,772,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TruWealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,045,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, 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. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $234.35 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.11. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company has a 50 day moving average of $220.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $212.50.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 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 business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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 paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $190.67 to $205.82 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. HSBC set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.99.

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.