United States Steel & Carnegie Pension Fund Sells 125,000 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

United States Steel & Carnegie Pension Fund lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 14.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 733,735 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 125,000 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 3.2% of United States Steel & Carnegie Pension Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. United States Steel & Carnegie Pension Fund’s holdings in Apple were worth $105,408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 567,617 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $67,825,000 after buying an additional 4,013 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,526,123 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,914,178,000 after buying an additional 45,124 shares during the period. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,883,878 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $218,191,000 after buying an additional 25,292 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,061,811 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $238,799,000 after buying an additional 37,501 shares during the period. Finally, Welch Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $146,000. Institutional investors own 61.23% of the company’s stock.

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) opened at 149.50 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $96.42 and a 52 week high of $156.65. The firm has a market cap of $779.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.54 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $146.92 and a 200-day moving average of $141.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.08. Apple had a net margin of 20.74% and a return on equity of 35.09%. The firm had revenue of $52.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $52.61 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post $8.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $50.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho restated a “neutral” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price target (up previously from $160.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $161.67.

In related news, SVP D Bruce Sewell sold 67,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.76, for a total transaction of $10,041,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 141,325 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,023,507. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel J. Riccio sold 11,949 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.86, for a total transaction of $1,707,034.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 373,000 shares of company stock valued at $56,497,046 over the last ninety days. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc (Apple) designs, manufactures and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, and a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. The Company’s products and services include iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod, Apple TV, a portfolio of consumer and professional software applications, the iOS and OS X operating systems, iCloud, and a variety of accessory, service and support offerings.