Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Cut by City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd.

City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd. trimmed its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 15.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 213,314 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 37,910 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 3.8% of City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $44,928,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 31,278 shares in the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the first quarter valued at $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP raised its position in Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at about $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at about $208,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 417,924 shares of company stock valued at $94,142,399. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. KeyCorp lowered Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Loop Capital raised their price target on Apple to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.23.

Apple Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $222.91 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.49. The company has a 50-day moving average of $227.18 and a 200 day moving average of $212.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.66, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 145.09%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Apple Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.