Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Lowered by Curbstone Financial Management Corp

Curbstone Financial Management Corp reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,067 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,238 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 3.4% of Curbstone Financial Management Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Curbstone Financial Management Corp’s holdings in Apple were worth $16,093,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the first quarter valued at $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the second quarter worth about $208,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Maxim Group boosted their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $228.28 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $227.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $217.31. The firm has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

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.