Decatur Capital Management Inc. Grows Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Decatur Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 115,026 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 3,161 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 11.7% of Decatur Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Decatur Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $24,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $13,383,000. Employees Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 4.3% in the second quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 2,105,779 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $443,519,000 after buying an additional 87,779 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,909,457,000 after acquiring an additional 3,245,281 shares in the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $705,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alight Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Apple by 400.5% in the second quarter. Alight Capital Management LP now owns 150,143 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $31,623,000 after purchasing an additional 120,143 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.51.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $225.12 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $226.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $215.45. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

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.