Covea Finance Buys 13,410 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Covea Finance increased its stake in Apple Inc. by 2.0% during Q2, owning a total of 668,609 shares valued at approximately $137.2 million, making Apple its second-largest holding.
• Insider transactions include CEO Timothy Cook selling 129,963 shares at an average price of $256.81, reducing his ownership by 3.81%, while SVP Deirdre O'Brien sold 43,013 shares, reducing her stake by nearly 24%.
• Apple's stock has a market cap of $3.83 trillion and analysts have assigned a consensus target price of $247.49 with a "Moderate Buy" rating.

Covea Finance boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 668,609 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 13,410 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 5.1% of Covea Finance's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Covea Finance's holdings in Apple were worth $137,179,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First National Bank of Hutchinson grew its stake in Apple by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $8,845,000 after acquiring an additional 6,982 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $13,544,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Apple by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $134,554,000 after acquiring an additional 69,207 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Apple by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $16,742,000 after acquiring an additional 2,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE grew its stake in Apple by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 50,264 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $12,587,000 after acquiring an additional 1,155 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 43,013 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. The trade was a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $258.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $233.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $214.69.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple's payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on AAPL. HSBC set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Apple from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Phillip Securities cut shares of Apple from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $247.49.

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.

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