Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares rose above $500 last week and have remained there, suggesting that investors might be starting to put their faith back in the company. However, the second quarter was an entirely different story, according to data put together by FactSet.
Institutional investors actually dumped their shares during the quarter, reducing institutional ownership in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by about 4 percent during the quarter. The data was posted by Wallace Witkowski of The Tell on MarketWatch.
Institutional ownership of Apple has been declining
The June quarter’s decline in institutional ownership of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is the quarter in which large investors have decreased their stakes in the company. Fidelity Management and Research, which had been Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s biggest shareholder at the end of the third quarter of last year, was the biggest seller of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares during the second quarter of this year. In the course of one year, Fidelity has slashed its Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stake from 4.8 percent to 3.2 percent.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s loss during the quarter appeared to be Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s share gain. Institutional investors actually raised their stakes in Microsoft 2.9 percent during the quarter. They also increased their stakes in Google by 1.7 percent.
Interestingly enough though, while Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares have recovered in recent weeks, so far this quarter Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares have declined 9.1 percent, while Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares lost 4.5 percent of their value. So we may be looking at just a matter of time before institutional investors start pouring money back into Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).
Some may be holding onto their money until the big unveiling that’s expected to happen on Sept. 10. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is expected to show off the iPhone 5S and possible its new low cost iPhone. Both devices are then expected to launch 10 days later, on Sept. 20. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares could stand to lose or gain quite a bit over the next 30 days or so.
