Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. Trims Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 62.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,079 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 54,218 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,967,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at about $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its stake in Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in Apple by 158.3% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,977,582,000 after purchasing an additional 7,067,379 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 161.2% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,502,068,000 after purchasing an additional 5,405,542 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $834,368,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $228.22 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $226.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $215.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.49. The firm has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Apple 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.