Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Cincinnati Financial Corp

Cincinnati Financial Corp lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,918,453 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 262,563 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 14.7% of Cincinnati Financial Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Cincinnati Financial Corp’s holdings in Apple were worth $680,000,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its stake in Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $222.78 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $240.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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 directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $253.00 price objective (down from $256.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.05.

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.