Blair William & Co. IL Purchases 310,626 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,407,746 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 310,626 shares during the period. Apple makes up 4.2% of Blair William & Co. IL’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,349,600,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 17.9% during the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 31,278 shares during the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the first quarter valued at about $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP grew its stake in Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.51.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at $5,223,062.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 417,924 shares of company stock worth $94,142,399. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $223.45 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $226.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $213.44. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.