ING Groep NV Trims Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

ING Groep NV lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 40.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,649,947 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 2,470,158 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 6.2% of ING Groep NV's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. ING Groep NV's holdings in Apple were worth $914,020,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. O Connor Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $896,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 0.5% during the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.4% in the third quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,848,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. increased its position in Apple by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 3,775 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Family Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,910 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,235,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock traded up $1.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $211.21. 35,359,019 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,661,567. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $215.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $229.19. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.11 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.53, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given 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 yield of 0.47%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Oppenheimer downgraded Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. China Renaissance assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $241.00 price objective for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Maxim Group lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $234.31.

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.