Chase Investment Counsel Corp Has $7.14 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Chase Investment Counsel Corp raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 774.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,891 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,016 shares during the period. Apple comprises 2.4% of Chase Investment Counsel Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Chase Investment Counsel Corp’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,138,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter valued at $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 14,145.8% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in Apple by 158.3% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,977,582,000 after purchasing an additional 7,067,379 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 161.2% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,502,068,000 after purchasing an additional 5,405,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at about $834,368,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 1.4 %

AAPL opened at $225.00 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company’s 50-day moving average is $226.96 and its 200 day moving average is $215.60.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.51.

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.