Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Lessened by Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 506,583 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,233 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 2.5% of Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Apple were worth $126,859,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 21.1% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $787,631,000 after purchasing an additional 588,427 shares during the period. Latitude Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,016,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple by 9.8% during the third quarter. Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,156 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,395,000 after buying an additional 2,065 shares in the last quarter. Financial Management Network Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Management Network Inc. now owns 64,470 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,622,000 after acquiring an additional 1,978 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hudock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 35,382 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,244,000 after acquiring an additional 1,025 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Apple from $252.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $234.17.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $204.57 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $217.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $229.52. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $166.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

About Apple

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.