Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,303 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 114 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 1.7% of Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,858,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Robinson Value Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 75.4% in the third quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 249 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. Cheyne Capital Management UK LLP grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 200.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cheyne Capital Management UK LLP now owns 275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $212,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Align Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $55,000. Finally, HBC Financial Services PLLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 448 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. 57.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.92, for a total transaction of $32,984.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 177,657 shares in the company, valued at $29,299,192.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.92, for a total value of $32,984.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 177,657 shares in the company, valued at $29,299,192.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 187,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.76, for a total value of $29,991,744.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,253,004.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 439,529 shares of company stock valued at $71,703,657. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $175.16 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $164.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $150.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.94. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $124.17 and a 1 year high of $176.39.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The iPhone maker reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $94.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.84 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.49% and a return on equity of 165.72%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 4th that allows the company to buyback $90.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 15th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 12th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Apple in a report on Sunday, March 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $199.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $176.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 5th. UBS Group set a $180.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Monday, April 3rd. Finally, Credit Suisse Group raised their price objective on Apple from $184.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.74.

About Apple

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Apple, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and other varieties of related services. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, Greater China, Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific. The Americas segment includes North and South America.