River & Mercantile Asset Management LLP Sells 1,210 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

River & Mercantile Asset Management LLP decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 3.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,700 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,210 shares during the period. River & Mercantile Asset Management LLP’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,793,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Robinson Value Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 75.4% during the third quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 249 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Bluestem Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 5,935.2% during the second quarter. Bluestem Financial Advisors LLC now owns 233,803 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 229,929 shares in the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 21.7% during the first quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 448 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ramsey Quantitative Systems purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at $55,000. Institutional investors own 57.60% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.3 %

AAPL stock opened at $152.99 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.97, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $124.17 and a 12 month high of $179.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $145.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $145.38.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $117.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.67 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.56% and a return on equity of 163.45%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.10 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 13th were issued a $0.23 dividend. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 10th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 18th. National Bank Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Apple to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 20th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 8th. Finally, Fundamental Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $168.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.24.

About Apple

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Apple, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and other varieties of related services. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, Greater China, Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific. The Americas segment includes North and South America.