Pictet North America Advisors SA Decreases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Pictet North America Advisors SA decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 59,911 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 120 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.4% of Pictet North America Advisors SA’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Pictet North America Advisors SA’s holdings in Apple were worth $15,003,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in Apple in the third quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at $110,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $196.79 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $219.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $230.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.08 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Apple from $252.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $263.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.85.

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.