Cohen Investment Advisors LLC Sells 973 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Cohen Investment Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 45,601 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 973 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 6.5% of Cohen Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,625,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Salvus Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 11.5% during the third quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,693 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,219,000 after buying an additional 2,755 shares during the last quarter. Platte River Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.8% in the third quarter. Platte River Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 64,444 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $15,015,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the period. Kwmg LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.8% in the third quarter. Kwmg LLC now owns 24,734 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,763,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. Value Partners Investments Inc. raised its position in Apple by 6.8% in the third quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 4,294 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. Finally, MKT Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 1.8% in the third quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 12,872 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,919,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

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

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $229.87 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $227.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $217.81. The stock has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Loop Capital reduced their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Melius Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Barclays reduced their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

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.