Covenant Partners LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Covenant Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,995 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 235 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 1.1% of Covenant Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Covenant Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,727,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 2.7% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in Apple by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after buying an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after buying an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 5.2% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $406,099,000 after buying an additional 95,235 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $258.20 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. 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 50-day moving average price of $235.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $226.77. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $258.21.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its 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 the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Apple Company 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.