Blue Trust Inc. Boosts Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 38.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 204,525 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,525 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 0.6% of Blue Trust Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $47,654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 127.4% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after acquiring an additional 42,282 shares in the last quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 5.0% in the first quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 43,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,521,000 after purchasing an additional 2,090 shares during the period. Brogan Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 5.6% during the first quarter. Brogan Financial Inc. now owns 15,216 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,609,000 after purchasing an additional 809 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 5.2% during the first quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 308,396 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $52,884,000 after purchasing an additional 15,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the first quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 290,550 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $49,824,000 after purchasing an additional 4,798 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.78.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $247.96 on Friday. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $231.63 and its 200 day moving average is $222.83. The company has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $250.80.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given 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 dividend yield of 0.40%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.