First Bank & Trust Trims Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

First Bank & Trust trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,745 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 241 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 0.7% of First Bank & Trust’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 22,870.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,302,607,000 after purchasing an additional 5,566,250 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $834,368,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after buying an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $258.20 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.47, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50-day moving average of $235.93 and a 200-day moving average of $226.77. 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 $258.21.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 29th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

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.