Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Holdings Boosted by Heartland Bank & Trust Co

Heartland Bank & Trust Co lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 50,801 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 4,069 shares during the period. Apple makes up 6.1% of Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,700,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.2% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $406,099,000 after purchasing an additional 95,235 shares in the last quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 387.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,128,000 after buying an additional 19,352 shares during the period. Gentry Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $876,000. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.9% in the second quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 920,737 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $193,926,000 after acquiring an additional 8,028 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 1.4 %

AAPL stock opened at $225.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $227.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $215.96. The company has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. KeyCorp downgraded Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Maxim Group upped their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.51.

Apple Company 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.