Cincinnati Financial Corp Sells 12,500 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Cincinnati Financial Corp reduced its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,797,016 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 12,500 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 12.2% of Cincinnati Financial Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Cincinnati Financial Corp’s holdings in Apple were worth $573,864,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $311,157,662,000 after purchasing an additional 5,005,297 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its position in Apple by 573,627.2% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $39,065,374,000 after buying an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $26,220,566,000 after buying an additional 13,137,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 98,099,909 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $21,790,933,000 after acquiring an additional 984,157 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Argus set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. HSBC set a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Melius lifted their price target on Apple from $290.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Loop Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Apple from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.53.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $280.70 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $265.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $233.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $4.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.10. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 164.05% and a net margin of 26.92%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.64 EPS. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.92%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total value 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. The trade was a 32.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.