Montag & Caldwell LLC Raises Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Montag & Caldwell LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 79.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 113,899 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,256 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 4.8% of Montag & Caldwell LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Montag & Caldwell LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $23,989,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bellwether Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 387.3% in the second quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,128,000 after acquiring an additional 19,352 shares during the period. Gentry Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Apple in the second quarter worth approximately $876,000. WT Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in Apple in the second quarter worth approximately $80,057,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in Apple by 10.3% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 16,745,201 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,526,874,000 after acquiring an additional 1,557,848 shares during the period. Finally, Councilmark Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter valued at $11,776,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at $5,223,062.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 417,924 shares of company stock valued at $94,142,399 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Maxim Group lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.23.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $222.91 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49. The company has a market capitalization of $3.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $227.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $212.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 145.09%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 11th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

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.