Conning Inc. Sells 2,990 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Conning Inc. reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 121,442 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,990 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $25,578,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Tenon Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 19.8% in the second quarter. Tenon Financial LLC now owns 3,370 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $710,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares during the period. Meixler Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Apple by 22.3% during the second quarter. Meixler Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,763 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $371,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. West Bancorporation Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.9% in the second quarter. West Bancorporation Inc. now owns 14,936 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,146,000 after purchasing an additional 427 shares during the last quarter. Simmons Bank boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 130,555 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $27,498,000 after acquiring an additional 2,231 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 43,639 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,191,000 after buying an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Stock Down 0.5 %

AAPL stock opened at $225.67 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.23. The company has a market cap of $3.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.10, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $222.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $203.50.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at $5,223,062.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 458,619 shares of company stock valued at $101,352,630. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $261.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $190.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. KeyCorp reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $247.61 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given 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 price target of $238.76.

Apple Company 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.