Argent Trust Co Has $125.57 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Argent Trust Co grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 596,183 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,780 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 5.5% of Argent Trust Co’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Apple were worth $125,568,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Purus Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Purus Wealth Management LLC now owns 50,462 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,628,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629 shares during the period. Wealthgate Family Office LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Wealthgate Family Office LLC now owns 16,283 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,430,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 39,235 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,264,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares during the period. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd purchased a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,996,000. Finally, E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Apple by 31.6% during the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 306,884 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $64,636,000 after purchasing an additional 73,629 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,223,062.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the 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 directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at $5,223,062.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 417,924 shares of company stock valued at $94,142,399 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Cfra lifted their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted 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. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.51.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $223.45 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.75, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $226.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $213.44. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

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.