Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Dip Continues at $516, Poor Stock Investment Analysts Say
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is having a bad week as its stock continue to dip with analysts here and there downgrading their ratings for the stock, saying the stock is now a poor investment.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) real time stock quote as of Feb 27 as published by NASDAQ OMX is at $516.53 from a previous close at $522.06; today's high at $525, today's low at $515.6; 52 weeks high at $575.13, 52 weeks low at $385.10.
According to a Morgan Stanley report, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock's institutional ownership is at its lowest level since 2009.
Through a poll ownership data since 2009, Morgan Stanley saw that the top 30 shareholders of large-cap companies in the likes of Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon, own 30 to 50 per cent of a company's total shares. And while the institutional ownership of Google, Microsoft and Amazon, are all at near-record highs in the last five years, Apple Inc. is at its poorest.
Analyst Katy Huberty told AppleInsider that with Apple's institutional ownership only at 30 per cent side by side to a 36 per cent five-year average, with the highest at only 40 per cent in 2009, institutional investors are giving an underweight rating on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).
"(Institutional investors) hold less concentrated positions in Apple than in the past with the top 30 holders allocating 2.2% of their fund to AAPL, compared to a high of 4.1% in the last five years and Apple's current 2.9% weighting in the S&P 500. By comparison, institutional funds are overweight (on) all other large cap technology stocks in our analysis," Huberty wrote.
With Apple's institutional ownership as its lowest, Kenneth Heebner, manager of the $1.6 billion CGM Focus Fund (CGMFX:US), sold short 100,000 Apple shares at an average price of $517.87 each.
Heebner bet on a decline in Apple Inc. (AAPL:US) through a $52 million short sale (AAPL:US) as written in a report filed by CGM Focus to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Analysts at Standpoint Research downgraded Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) from a "sell" to a "strong sell".
Analysts at Barclays also gave a downgraded rating to the stock from "overweight" to "equal weight."
J.C. Parets of eagle Bay Capital said that "sell BlackBerry and buy Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)" trade has flipped, insinuating that Blackbery has now better prospects compared to Apple.