Ninety One UK Ltd Sells 344,124 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ninety One UK Ltd lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 11.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,637,630 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 344,124 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 1.8% of Ninety One UK Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Ninety One UK Ltd's holdings in Apple were worth $660,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth about $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $110,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. KeyCorp reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $245.26.

Apple Stock Down 7.3 %

NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $14.81 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $188.38. 125,530,035 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 55,311,458. 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 business's 50-day moving average price is $230.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $233.15. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.08 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple's payout ratio is 15.87%.

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.