Charles Schwab Trust Co Boosts Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Charles Schwab Trust Co lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 25.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,718 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 6,415 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Trust Co's holdings in Apple were worth $6,508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Ryan Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its position in Apple by 1,800.0% during the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple during the 1st quarter valued at $58,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 1st quarter valued at $99,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,005,982.82. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $247.66 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a 50-day moving average of $238.50 and a 200 day moving average of $216.04. The firm has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.58, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. CLSA raised Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, October 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $266.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $248.29.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.