Driehaus Capital Management LLC Acquires 11,949 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Driehaus Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 116.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,210 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,949 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,678,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Apple by 5.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Apple by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,369,852,000 after acquiring an additional 2,474,887 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,291,583,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.7% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 29,515,371 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,061,296,000 after purchasing an additional 485,873 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $228.22 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.49. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.54, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $226.84 and its 200-day moving average is $215.52. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend 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%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 1st. Maxim Group boosted their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

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.