Berkshire Hathaway Inc Sells 20,000,000 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Berkshire Hathaway Inc lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 280,000,000 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 20,000,000 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 22.3% of Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s holdings in Apple were worth $57,447,600,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,942,255,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at $17,472,482,000. PKS Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 98,917.0% during the 2nd quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC now owns 57,956,620 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,106,000 after purchasing an additional 57,898,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 20,464.8% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,069,029 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,553,753,000 after purchasing an additional 26,937,401 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $300.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wedbush set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the company from $203.07 to $246.99 in a research report on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $282.51.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $278.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $268.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $236.77. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.65 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 164.05% and a net margin of 26.92%.Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.64 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 13.92%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,098 shares in the company, valued at $4,095,030.54. This trade represents a 19.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.