PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Reduces Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 19,212,466 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 137,776 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 2.2% of PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,267,665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,877,000. First National Bank of Hutchinson increased its stake in Apple by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,845,000 after acquiring an additional 6,982 shares during the period. Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,544,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Apple by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $134,554,000 after acquiring an additional 69,207 shares during the period. Finally, Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Apple by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,742,000 after acquiring an additional 2,695 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $240.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.05.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $239.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $219.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $212.86. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.11.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Apple Company 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.