Straight Path Wealth Management Decreases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Straight Path Wealth Management cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,334 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 484 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 0.5% of Straight Path Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Straight Path Wealth Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $834,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after acquiring an additional 2,018,010 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,759,061 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,519,244,000 after acquiring an additional 2,826,709 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 38,579,495 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,605,195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,576 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 17,519,918 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,020,609,000 after purchasing an additional 287,329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Apple by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 14,616,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,502,541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,430 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Apple from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Bank of America raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $208.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $169.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.46, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $173.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $181.85. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $162.80 and a 12-month high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.95%.

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.