Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Position Reduced by Members Trust Co

Members Trust Co trimmed its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 31,887 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,304 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 0.2% of Members Trust Co’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Members Trust Co’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,468,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,018,010 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,677,190,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,360 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 1st. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Maxim Group raised their target price on shares of Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.71.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 192,355 shares of company stock worth $34,771,329. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $3.02 during trading on Friday, reaching $224.57. The stock had a trading volume of 23,361,467 shares, compared to its average volume of 64,584,953. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $225.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $186.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple 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.