Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Buys 331,673 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 30.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,423,336 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 331,673 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 1.0% of Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $292,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 13.2% during the second quarter. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. now owns 3,552 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $729,000 after buying an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,772,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Apple by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 195,482 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,107,000 after acquiring an additional 4,543 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 17.9% during the 2nd quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 5,404 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Andina Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 209.2% during the 1st quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 6,786 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 4,591 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Moffett Nathanson raised Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 4th. HSBC set a $220.00 price objective on Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Melius upped their price objective on Apple from $290.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.53.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $280.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.89. The business’s fifty day moving average is $265.56 and its 200 day moving average is $233.58. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a return on equity of 164.05% and a net margin of 26.92%.The business had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.64 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 13.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total value of $1,017,654.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,095,030.54. This represents a 19.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.