Chesapeake Capital Corp IL Takes Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Chesapeake Capital Corp IL purchased a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 3,276 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $690,000. Apple accounts for about 0.9% of Chesapeake Capital Corp IL’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 31,278 shares in the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Apple during the second quarter worth approximately $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the second quarter worth $208,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Maxim Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $203.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $231.41 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.49. The company has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.99, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $226.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $210.64.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

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.