Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Cox Capital Mgt LLC

Cox Capital Mgt LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,003 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 310 shares during the period. Apple makes up 2.1% of Cox Capital Mgt LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Cox Capital Mgt LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,078,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,260,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 3.9% in the first quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Sharpepoint LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 3.5% in the first quarter. Sharpepoint LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 8,720 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,184,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the first quarter. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC now owns 4,016 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $892,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 value 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 $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 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.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $254.04 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $236.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $215.77. 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. The firm has a market cap of $3.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a $0.26 dividend. 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 presently 15.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. CLSA raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 5th. Melius Research set a $290.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $248.29.

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.