Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Purchased by Trust Co of the South

Trust Co of the South lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 90,001 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,094 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 3.8% of Trust Co of the South’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Trust Co of the South’s holdings in Apple were worth $22,917,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Helen Stephens Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the third quarter. Helen Stephens Group LLC now owns 11,905 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,031,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the period. McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc. now owns 38,924 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,911,000 after purchasing an additional 797 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank of Texas acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,888,000. Beacon Wealthcare LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Beacon Wealthcare LLC now owns 6,016 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,532,000 after purchasing an additional 908 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Apple by 11.3% during the third quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 101,192 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $25,767,000 after buying an additional 10,291 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 9th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Apple from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $283.92.

Apple Stock Down 1.0%

AAPL stock opened at $271.84 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $269.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $238.57. The company has a market cap of $4.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 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. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 164.05% and a net margin of 26.92%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.64 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $35,181,866.93. This represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.