Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Purchases 224 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Oct 20th, 2023

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Free Report) by 0.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 26,725 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 3.6% of Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,184,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,995,750 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $221,753,959,000 after acquiring an additional 8,734,393 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.3% in the first quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 915,560,382 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $150,975,907,000 after acquiring an additional 20,424,207 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 116,483.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $74,002,245,000 after acquiring an additional 569,066,184 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 285,171,112 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $46,918,015,000 after acquiring an additional 2,421,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 234,017,381 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $38,589,468,000 after acquiring an additional 7,736,013 shares during the last quarter. 58.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 31,685 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.69, for a total transaction of $5,661,792.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,237,944.09. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 31,685 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.69, for a total transaction of $5,661,792.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,237,944.09. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 65,536 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.11, for a total value of $11,279,400.96. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,483,548.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 455,004 shares of company stock valued at $79,238,767 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $175.46 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.17 and a 1-year high of $198.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $177.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $178.75. The stock has a market cap of $2.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The iPhone maker reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.07. Apple had a return on equity of 164.92% and a net margin of 24.68%. The business had revenue of $81.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 14th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $208.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, September 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 13th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $180.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 27th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.40.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Apple

Apple Profile

(Free Report)

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.