Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Acquired by Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,830,554 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,993 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 3.3% of Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Apple were worth $580,745,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Ryan Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $65,000. Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the first quarter worth $58,000. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the first quarter worth $99,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. The trade was a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 254,922 shares of company stock worth $64,320,190. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $205.82 to $205.16 in a report on Friday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Wedbush set a $310.00 price target on Apple and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $248.29.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $247.77 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $239.39 and its 200-day moving average is $216.26. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

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.