Sarasin & Partners LLP Lowers Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Sarasin & Partners LLP cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 21.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,396,881 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 386,965 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 2.9% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Apple were worth $286,598,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $65,000. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at about $58,000. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at about $99,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $266.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $244.66.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the business’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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $252.31 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $227.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.29, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.11.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 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.