Cumberland Partners Ltd Reduces Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Cumberland Partners Ltd decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 152,558 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 660 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 2.5% of Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings in Apple were worth $35,546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Total Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 6.4% in the third quarter. Total Investment Management Inc. now owns 32,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,644,000 after purchasing an additional 1,984 shares during the period. Savvy Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 46.8% during the 3rd quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 41,934 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,771,000 after buying an additional 13,372 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 285,248 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $66,463,000 after buying an additional 10,604 shares during the period. Proactive Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the third quarter valued at about $4,814,000. Finally, Platform Technology Partners raised its holdings in Apple by 1.3% during the third quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 133,028 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $30,668,000 after acquiring an additional 1,671 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their target price on Apple to $184.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, December 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.85.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $229.98 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $241.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $230.72.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 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.