Conning Inc. Sells 1,160 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Conning Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 120,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,160 shares during the period. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $28,026,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after buying an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the second 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 during the last quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC increased its position 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 valued at $16,269,000 after acquiring an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $406,099,000 after acquiring an additional 95,235 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the company. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays decreased their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.03.

Apple Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $243.36 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $238.91 and its 200 day moving average is $229.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.