Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Bought by CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp

CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 234,672 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 8,898 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 0.5% of CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Apple were worth $48,148,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wiser Wealth Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Wiser Wealth Management Inc now owns 11,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,315,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares during the period. Brookmont Capital Management increased its stake in Apple by 13.0% in the 2nd quarter. Brookmont Capital Management now owns 1,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. EWA LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. EWA LLC now owns 33,999 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,976,000 after purchasing an additional 1,734 shares in the last quarter. Northstar Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Northstar Group Inc. now owns 152,963 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $31,384,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Viewpoint Investment Partners Corp boosted its position in shares of Apple by 99.7% during the 2nd quarter. Viewpoint Investment Partners Corp now owns 11,176 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,293,000 after purchasing an additional 5,580 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Moffett Nathanson upgraded shares of Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. HSBC set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $252.47.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total transaction of $1,038,790.61. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,168,373.35. This trade represents a 32.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $262.77 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $265.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $242.49 and a 200-day moving average of $217.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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