Cove Street Capital LLC Sells 250 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Cove Street Capital LLC lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 17.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,200 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 250 shares during the quarter. Cove Street Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Curi RMB Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 25.1% during the 1st quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 380,576 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,537,000 after purchasing an additional 76,244 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 148,710 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,357 shares in the last quarter. Belmont Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 48.3% during the 1st quarter. Belmont Capital LLC now owns 459,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $102,037,000 after purchasing an additional 149,593 shares in the last quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA boosted its position in shares of Apple by 260.8% during the 1st quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA now owns 4,508,384 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $925,467,000 after purchasing an additional 3,258,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 28,191,897 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,262,266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,613,031 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $234.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The business has a 50 day moving average of $221.50 and a 200-day moving average of $212.39. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 presently 15.78%.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley set a $240.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Melius Research set a $290.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Apple from $190.67 to $205.82 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $240.80.

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.