Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s 2nd Largest Position

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 130,550 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 7.5% of FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in Apple were worth $30,418,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 127.4% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after purchasing an additional 42,282 shares during the last quarter. Mittelman Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter worth $2,140,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 266,403 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $45,683,000 after purchasing an additional 4,450 shares during the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in Apple by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $508,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VitalStone Financial LLC grew its position in Apple by 18.4% in the 1st quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC now owns 5,487 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $941,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Moffett Nathanson reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.68.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $237.33 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $229.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid 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 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

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.