Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Decreases Stake in Apple Inc. (AAPL)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 452,961 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 39,339 shares during the period. Apple makes up 1.2% of Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Apple were worth $65,072,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Stellar Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $587,000. Greytown Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $581,000. Adviser Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $396,000. Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC now owns 13,481 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,561,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the period. Finally, Redmond Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 29.4% in the fourth quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 25,147 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,913,000 after buying an additional 5,712 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.50% of the company’s stock.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ AAPL) opened at 159.85 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $150.31 and a 200-day moving average of $144.88. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $102.53 and a 12-month high of $161.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $825.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.15 and a beta of 1.31.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.10. Apple had a return on equity of 35.40% and a net margin of 20.87%. The firm had revenue of $45.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post $9.02 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 28.64%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $50.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

TRADEMARK VIOLATION NOTICE: This story was published by [[site]] and is the sole property of of [[site]]. If you are viewing this story on another domain, it was illegally copied and reposted in violation of United States and international copyright and trademark laws. The original version of this story can be accessed at [[permalink]].

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Drexel Hamilton reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $208.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 9th. Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc. reiterated a “” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, August 10th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $150.00 price objective (up from $120.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 8th. UBS AG reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $160.08 price objective (down from $176.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 9th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.33.

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.58, for a total transaction of $5,515,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,168,283 shares in the company, valued at $184,098,035.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Eduardo H. Cue sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.78, for a total value of $6,920,100.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 287,962 shares of company stock valued at $44,702,313 over the last quarter. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Apple

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.