Apple Inc. $AAPL Stock Position Lessened by Cooper Financial Group

Cooper Financial Group decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 151,431 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 11,879 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 3.7% of Cooper Financial Group’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Cooper Financial Group’s holdings in Apple were worth $31,069,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ryan Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the first quarter valued at $58,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the first quarter valued at approximately $99,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total transaction of $1,038,790.61. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 8,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,168,373.35. This trade represents a 32.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total value of $12,101,228.75. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities boosted 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, September 10th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. CLSA upgraded Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, October 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $266.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $248.29.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $252.29 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $241.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $216.81. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for 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 revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

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.