Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 180,705 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,097 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 2.4% of Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $37,075,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $311,157,662,000 after acquiring an additional 5,005,297 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 573,627.2% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $26,220,566,000 after acquiring an additional 13,137,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 1.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 98,099,909 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $21,790,933,000 after acquiring an additional 984,157 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Up 2.3%

AAPL opened at $268.81 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $269.12. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $244.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $220.14. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total value of $12,101,228.75. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $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 have sold a total of 259,121 shares of company stock valued at $65,358,981 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. HSBC set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Phillip Securities cut shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “moderate sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $252.83.

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.