Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,668 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 554 shares during the period. Apple comprises 1.5% of Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,189,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ryan Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 1,800.0% during the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Nexus Investment Management ULC grew its position in Apple by 333.3% in the 2nd quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Finally, Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple during the first quarter worth about $58,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective (up previously from $245.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $298.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Apple from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Apple from $220.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Apple from $279.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.22.

Apple Trading Down 0.2%

AAPL opened at $272.41 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $255.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $227.05. The company has a market cap of $4.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.34, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $277.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.65 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.64 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is 13.92%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,181,866.93. The trade was a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the sale, the insider owned 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,095,030.54. This represents a 19.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.