Caldwell Trust Co Acquires New Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Caldwell Trust Co bought a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 250,773 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $51,451,000. Apple makes up approximately 5.1% of Caldwell Trust Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ryan Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% during the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC grew its position in Apple by 333.3% in the second quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple during the first quarter valued at about $58,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 8,765 shares in the company, valued at $2,168,373.35. This trade represents a 32.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $274.61 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $4.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $268.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $238.34. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a net margin of 26.92% and a return on equity of 164.05%. The business had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 13.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Wedbush set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. CLSA upped their price target on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Apple from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $282.51.

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.