CHICAGO TRUST Co NA Acquires 17,758 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 164,087 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,758 shares during the period. Apple comprises 4.7% of CHICAGO TRUST Co NA’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA’s holdings in Apple were worth $33,666,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $39,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter worth approximately $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $133,425,490,000 after purchasing an additional 59,835,676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $266.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Wedbush set a $310.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $247.49.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $35,181,866.93. This represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,922 shares of company stock worth $64,320,190 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $258.02 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $233.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $214.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.15, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

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.