Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by EULAV Asset Management

EULAV Asset Management cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 84,061 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,995 shares during the period. EULAV Asset Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $21,051,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Realta Investment Advisors lifted its position in Apple by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 89,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $21,895,000 after buying an additional 13,870 shares in the last quarter. Barrett & Company Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Barrett & Company Inc. now owns 28,672 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,180,000 after acquiring an additional 1,350 shares during the last quarter. Bright Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Bright Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 19,160 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,798,000 after acquiring an additional 2,393 shares during the period. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $243,000. Finally, Landmark Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 24.0% during the 4th quarter. Landmark Wealth Management Inc. now owns 35,952 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,003,000 after acquiring an additional 6,947 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, April 4th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $170.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $230.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Down 5.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $172.42 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.08 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $225.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $232.01. The company has a market cap of $2.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.