Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Chase Investment Counsel Corp's 3rd Largest Position

Chase Investment Counsel Corp raised its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 35.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,066 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 12,210 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 3.8% of Chase Investment Counsel Corp's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Chase Investment Counsel Corp's holdings in Apple were worth $11,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Amara Financial LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Vestcor Inc lifted its position in Apple by 10.1% during the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 375,539 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $87,501,000 after buying an additional 34,414 shares in the last quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 32.9% during the 3rd quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC now owns 15,100 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,518,000 after purchasing an additional 3,736 shares during the period. Simmons Bank boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.6% in the third quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 132,641 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $30,905,000 after buying an additional 2,086 shares during the period. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at $4,972,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of AAPL stock traded up $1.04 on Friday, reaching $198.53. 36,406,804 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,093,894. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $208.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $227.36.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup reiterated a "cautious" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wedbush cut Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $235.80.

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.