Covington Investment Advisors Inc. Acquires 61 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 136,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 4.7% of Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $30,268,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the first quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,199,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. Avid Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 28.3% during the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $935,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,337,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,772,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TruWealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,045,000 after buying an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $266.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, HSBC set a $220.00 target price on Apple and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.99.

Apple Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $237.88 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $219.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $212.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.11. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.