Covington Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 7,030 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 136,416 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 7,030 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 4.6% of Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $28,732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 31,278 shares during the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the first quarter valued at $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP grew its position in Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Sage Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple during the second quarter worth about $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Moffett Nathanson assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, August 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $211.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Maxim Group boosted their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $225.00 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $226.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $215.60. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued 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 was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.