Cullen Investment Group LTD. Sells 4,791 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. decreased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 215,198 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 4,791 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 7.5% of Cullen Investment Group LTD.'s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Cullen Investment Group LTD.'s holdings in Apple were worth $50,141,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 137,845 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $32,042,000 after purchasing an additional 8,483 shares in the last quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 46.8% during the 3rd quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,863 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,599,000 after buying an additional 2,187 shares during the period. Curated Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 53,013 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $12,352,000 after buying an additional 2,913 shares in the last quarter. Gainplan LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 483.3% in the 3rd quarter. Gainplan LLC now owns 8,049 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,875,000 after acquiring an additional 6,669 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eclectic Associates Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.5% during the third quarter. Eclectic Associates Inc. ADV now owns 30,629 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $7,137,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of AAPL traded up $1.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $229.85. 4,135,982 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 58,095,512. 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 company has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24. The stock's 50-day moving average is $227.59 and its 200-day moving average is $217.47. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Apple's payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Evercore ISI reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.25.

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.