Apple's largest active shareholder cuts stake by 10%
Equity mutual fund Fidelity Contrafund, the largest active Apple shareholder, has cut its stake in the company by 10 percent.
The $92 billion fund, run by portfolio manager Will Danoff, reduced his stake in Apple over the first two months of 2013, according to Reuters. Fidelity Contrafund went from 11.56 million shares of AAPL at the end of 2012 to 10.43 million shares at the end of February.
The selloff pushed Apple to No. 2, behind Google, on the mutual fund's list of largest holdings. Google now accounts for 5.8 percent of the fund's assets, while Apple takes up 5.2 percent.
The change reflects the fact that Google recently passed Apple as the top U.S.-based mutual and hedge fund holding. A study released last month found that Google was the most-owned stock by the 50 largest actively managed mutual funds in America.
Shares of AAPL were off more than 2 percent in Monday morning trading, and the company's stock fallen nearly 33 percent over the last six months, since the launch of the iPhone 5.
Analysts and market watchers have expressed concern that Apple's growth is slowing, particularly in the highly competitive smartphone market where Google's Android has become the global market share leader. Some have even predicted that Apple could miss its own guidance for its just-concluded March quarter.
The company's recent stock woes have prompted some investors to clamor for a higher dividend financed by the company's $137 billion-and-growing cash reserves. Market watchers are also eagerly awaiting Apple's next moves in multiple markets, including the potential for a cheaper iPhone model, and the prospect of new products like a smart wristwatch and a full-fledged television set.
The $92 billion fund, run by portfolio manager Will Danoff, reduced his stake in Apple over the first two months of 2013, according to Reuters. Fidelity Contrafund went from 11.56 million shares of AAPL at the end of 2012 to 10.43 million shares at the end of February.
The selloff pushed Apple to No. 2, behind Google, on the mutual fund's list of largest holdings. Google now accounts for 5.8 percent of the fund's assets, while Apple takes up 5.2 percent.
The change reflects the fact that Google recently passed Apple as the top U.S.-based mutual and hedge fund holding. A study released last month found that Google was the most-owned stock by the 50 largest actively managed mutual funds in America.
Shares of AAPL were off more than 2 percent in Monday morning trading, and the company's stock fallen nearly 33 percent over the last six months, since the launch of the iPhone 5.
Analysts and market watchers have expressed concern that Apple's growth is slowing, particularly in the highly competitive smartphone market where Google's Android has become the global market share leader. Some have even predicted that Apple could miss its own guidance for its just-concluded March quarter.
The company's recent stock woes have prompted some investors to clamor for a higher dividend financed by the company's $137 billion-and-growing cash reserves. Market watchers are also eagerly awaiting Apple's next moves in multiple markets, including the potential for a cheaper iPhone model, and the prospect of new products like a smart wristwatch and a full-fledged television set.
Comments
Go~ private! *clap clap clap* Go~ private! *clap clap clap*
How often does one read dire news for a company, such as 'Some have even predicted that Apple could miss its own guidance for its just-concluded March quarter' followed by 'The company's recent stock woes have prompted some investors to clamor for a higher dividend financed by the company's $137 billion-and-growing cash reserves'. These statements seem diametrically opposed and speak strongly to the odd nature of Apple's dilemma I feel. Perhaps FC should have increased its stake.
Being a company of the Light, Apple has been having no rest being attacked by the somber ones.
I also feel Apple should start moving towards going private, however it cannot sell its soul like Michael Dell most probably is now doing.
Apple is attacked because of its integrity, it's not willing to pay up journalists etc for good press and everybody is now eyeing their growing 137B treasure chest - even the name indicates how coveted it is by the greedy ones. I say Apple grows it endlessly until it can buy itself back - however I'd see it with good eyes they'd change it into several different currencies and physical gold, wouldn't the worst happen to the USD currency...
Hang in there, this media frenzy is really just noise - AAPL will surely break the USD1000 soon, they know it and they're playing for highest profits possible. BUY!
(Attackers to this post define themselves)
Apple Mini
Wow.
I see that there is breaking news about Tim Cook stepping down because of his inability to perform in the capacity that the board expects. Should be on all media outlets within the hour.
Not a peep from management? Really? Have you even listed to the conference calls after quarterly earnings reports?
Besides, what do you want Cook to say? "You people dumping stock are idiots"?
They really need to be encouraging private ownership rather than institutional. Split the stock for Pete's sake.
Maybe Apple should apologize to them, and then they'll reinvest.
Hard action such as a massive repurchase (and perhaps less important, but nonetheless useful for sending a strong signal, a split) is exactly what I mean. And, occasionally showing up to counter real FUD that has a valuation impact. After all, he does show up for maps, China, CSR issues, etc.
And yes, I carefully listened to the post-quarterly earnings conference call, and all I heard was the usual boilerplate.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MJ Web
Let's see how much more value Tim Cook & Co. can destroy by ignoring Wall Street and pissing off investors. Between that and Cook's supply chain "expertise" AAPL might crash below $400 this week. Tim Cook makes Jerry Yang, Steve Balmer, and John Chambers look like a pack of bloody geniuses!
With due respect, I don't see it that way. I hold enough AAPL that it's a significant part of my net worth, so like others, I've lost quite a bit of wealth in the past few months. Nevertheless, I'd be seriously disappointed in Tim Cook if he were to bow down before Wall Street. Part of what makes Apple Apple is that it navigates by its own north star and it (mostly) ignores Wall Street. I hope this doesn't change.
That said, I also hope for and expect a larger dividend soon. But I'm patient. It was fifteen years ago that I bet heavily on Apple, and I remain bullish about the next fifteen years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
$250B in wealth wiped out in less than a year -- is this the largest in known history for any corporation (including perhaps the East India Companies)? -- and not a peep from management.
Wow.
And yet still the most valuable company in the world in terms of market capitalization, with a pile of cash equal to the GDP of some countries, margins any company any would kill for, raking in most of the profit of the tech universe, and a P/E that leaves any rational person scratching their heads Your argument simply does not apply here. Nothing about this situation has any basis in rational thought so no "peep" from management could possibly explain it either. The entire story of Apple is based on emotion, usually the emotion of hate.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MJ Web
Let's see how much more value Tim Cook & Co. can destroy by ignoring Wall Street and pissing off investors. Between that and Cook's supply chain "expertise" AAPL might crash below $400 this week. Tim Cook makes Jerry Yang, Steve Balmer, and John Chambers look like a pack of bloody geniuses!
You have absolutely no basis on which to voice your opinion other than ignorance.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lkrupp
You have absolutely no basis on which to voice your opinion other than ignorance.
Perhaps you'd like to try that shoe on the other foot. Investors and Wall Street are divorcing Apple. The basis of my observation is the stock had nosedived from $700 to $400 during the biggest bull market in this century. Use your eyes instead of shooting off your mouth, lkrupp!
Considering how secretive Apple is with its product roadmap I'm not sure it makes sense to go 6 months without announcing any product refreshes or new products. It just puts that much more pressure on them when they do announce something. I suppose they could have an event between now and WWDC but that seems unlikely. So there will be huge expectations for what does get announced at WWDC. My hope is that with all the leaks last year Apple really is clamping down on leaks and we'll get some surprises later this year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MJ Web
Let's see how much more value Tim Cook & Co. can destroy by ignoring Wall Street and pissing off investors. Between that and Cook's supply chain "expertise" AAPL might crash below $400 this week. Tim Cook makes Jerry Yang, Steve Balmer, and John Chambers look like a pack of bloody geniuses!
What rational basis is there for the dumping of stock? Seems it me its based more on emotion than fundamentals. I will say though going 6 months with no product refreshes or new product announcements doesn't help shift the narrative. Especially considering Apple is very secretive about product plans. This creates a vacuum which is being filled with plenty of FUD and D&G.