Grassi Investment Management Lowers Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Grassi Investment Management decreased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 344,247 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,068 shares during the period. Apple comprises 6.9% of Grassi Investment Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Grassi Investment Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $66,278,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its holdings in Apple by 20.0% during the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 2,615,701 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $456,728,000 after buying an additional 435,891 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in Apple by 0.4% during the first quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 240,628 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,016,000 after buying an additional 1,040 shares during the last quarter. Markel Corp increased its holdings in Apple by 0.7% during the first quarter. Markel Corp now owns 1,206,990 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $210,752,000 after buying an additional 8,450 shares during the last quarter. Camden Capital LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 9.2% during the first quarter. Camden Capital LLC now owns 156,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $27,305,000 after buying an additional 13,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Island Capital LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the first quarter. Harbor Island Capital LLC now owns 135,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $23,629,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $173.31 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $181.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $182.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $155.98 and a 12-month high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.88 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on AAPL shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Redburn Partners cut shares of Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Piper Sandler Companies cut shares of Apple to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $220.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.