Artemis Investment Management LLP Reduces Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Artemis Investment Management LLP cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 66.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 219,868 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 444,419 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP’s holdings in Apple were worth $55,059,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. now owns 21,302 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,334,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. Arbor Trust Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Arbor Trust Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 36,432 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,123,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 23,077 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,779,000 after acquiring an additional 1,134 shares during the period. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC now owns 25,168 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,303,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC increased its stake in Apple by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC now owns 3,963 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $992,000 after purchasing an additional 748 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.88.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $235.33 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $237.89 and a 200 day moving average of $233.94. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.08 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.87%.

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.