Howard Capital Management Inc. Acquires 95 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,446 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 0.3% of Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,464,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Apple by 17.9% during the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 31,278 shares in the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter worth $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP grew its position in Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth about $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $208,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 517,924 shares of company stock valued at $114,786,399 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on AAPL. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on Apple to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. One equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.27.

Apple Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $235.86 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $226.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $209.33. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.49. The company has a market cap of $3.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

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.