Apple Inc. $AAPL Stake Reduced by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,248,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 87,136 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 2.3% of AQR Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.07% of Apple worth $2,225,052,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the first quarter worth about $58,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $82,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $147,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 25th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Melius Research set a $290.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $240.80.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $234.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $221.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $212.39. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week 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.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

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.