Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. Reduces Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 39.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,000 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 13,000 shares during the period. Apple comprises 2.1% of Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,103,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the first quarter valued at $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 25,934.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in Apple by 27.4% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 68,190,569 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,870,795,000 after acquiring an additional 14,651,321 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on AAPL. Barclays boosted their price objective on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Apple in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $205.82 to $205.16 in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $298.00 price target on Apple and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $248.29.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total value of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total value of $1,038,790.61. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,168,373.35. This represents a 32.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 259,121 shares of company stock valued at $65,358,981 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 2.0%

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $252.29 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $241.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $216.91.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company 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 of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s 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.