Skylands Capital Trims Apple Inc (APPL), General Motors Company (GM) As Stock Picks Lose 3.9% In Q2

Skylands trimmed its exposure to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 16,050 shares during the April-June period, bringing its total ownership down to 335,665 shares valued at $42.10 million at the end of June. Shares of the largest company in the world remained flat during the second quarter, but were up by over 17% year-to-date. However, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s shares have fallen by 7% in after-hours trading today following its latest earnings results and guidance, which fell short of expectations. Though the Apple Watch was released during the second quarter, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) previously noted that it wouldn’t be providing sales data for the device, at least in this earnings report, and that proved to be the case. Among the over 700 hedge funds we cover, Carl Icahn’s Icahn Capital LP held the largest stake in Apple, consisting of 52.76 million shares at the end of March quarter.

Owing to an 11% drop in share price during the quarter ending June 30, General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) dropped to the sixth-largest holding of Skylands from the fifth-largest at the end of first quarter. The fund also sold 26,500 shares of General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) during the June quarter and held 857,750 shares of the auto makerm valued at $28.59 million. General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) is scheduled to report its quarterly earnings on July 23 and on the back of a healthy economy and surge in demand, the Street is expecting the company to declare EPS of $1.08, significantly above the $0.12 EPS it reported during the same period last year. Analysts have an average recommendation of ‘Overweight’ on the stock with an average price target of $41.40, almost 30% above where the company currently trades at. Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway held one of the largest stakes in General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), of 41 million shares at the end of first quarter.

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