Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Position Cut by Vontobel Holding Ltd.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,378,926 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 52,510 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 1.2% of Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $345,311,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $787,631,000 after acquiring an additional 588,427 shares in the last quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC raised its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,016,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Rodgers & Associates LTD increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.1% during the third quarter. Rodgers & Associates LTD now owns 6,541 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,524,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 109,894 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $25,605,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,365,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Apple from $290.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.85.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $196.79 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.08 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.24, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s 50 day moving average is $220.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio 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.