Keene & Associates Inc. Sells 131 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Keene & Associates Inc. cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,125 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 131 shares during the quarter. Keene & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Apple by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,369,852,000 after acquiring an additional 2,474,887 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,291,583,000 after buying an additional 1,065,759 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Apple by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 29,515,371 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,061,296,000 after buying an additional 485,873 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Apple by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,214,222,000 after buying an additional 2,359,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Apple by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 17,993,042 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,085,427,000 after buying an additional 2,594,138 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Cfra upped their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.23.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 417,924 shares of company stock valued at $94,142,399 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $222.91 on Monday. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50-day moving average is $227.18 and its 200 day moving average is $212.64.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 145.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Apple Company 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.