Grandview Asset Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Grandview Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 90,024 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,671 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 7.0% of Grandview Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Grandview Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $15,437,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Apple by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,394,751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,018,010 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 14,395.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Apple by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,677,190,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,360 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Apple from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.38.

Apple Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $207.49 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $187.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.75. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $220.20. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.27, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.