Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Has $104.89 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 450,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 14,756 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 7.3% of Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Apple were worth $104,886,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth approximately $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 34.3% in the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $223.66 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $241.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a market cap of $3.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.14.

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.