Americana Partners LLC Decreases Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Americana Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 170,983 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 7,079 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 2.8% of Americana Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Americana Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $36,013,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after buying an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,026,492,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 23,076.4% during the first quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,584,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,200,345 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in Apple by 158.3% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,977,582,000 after purchasing an additional 7,067,379 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 161.2% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,502,068,000 after buying an additional 5,405,542 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Moffett Nathanson assumed coverage on Apple in a research note on Monday, August 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $211.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.27.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $229.04 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.23. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $223.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $205.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.26 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.55%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 517,924 shares of company stock valued at $114,786,399. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.