Blue Trust Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 38.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 204,525 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 56,525 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 0.6% of Blue Trust Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $47,654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital reduced 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. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Barclays dropped their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.78.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $247.96 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.78, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.23. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $231.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $222.83. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $250.80.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.