Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s 3rd Largest Position

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 135,436 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 980 shares during the period. Apple makes up 4.7% of Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $31,557,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,121,656,000 after buying an additional 5,893,741 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 1.9% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 58,615,053 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,657,308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,112,033 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Apple by 5.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $228.01 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $241.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.86. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.87%.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on AAPL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Loop Capital cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $242.52.

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.