Polymer Capital Management HK LTD Cuts Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Polymer Capital Management HK LTD lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 80.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,587 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 108,441 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 1.4% of Polymer Capital Management HK LTD’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Polymer Capital Management HK LTD’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,195,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $813,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,848,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lowery Thomas LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,602,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. KeyCorp reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price objective (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. 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 company’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 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. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $227.63 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $241.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $231.04.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Apple 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.