Cordant Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Cordant Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 25.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 173 shares during the period. Cordant Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $104,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First National Bank of Hutchinson lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,845,000 after purchasing an additional 6,982 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,544,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $134,554,000 after purchasing an additional 69,207 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,742,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 50,264 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,587,000 after purchasing an additional 1,155 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $258.02 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $233.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $214.69. The firm has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.15, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,005,982.82. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $298.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $247.49.

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.