Equitable Trust Co. Has $51.01 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Equitable Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 218,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 928 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 3.3% of Equitable Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $51,007,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc increased its holdings in Apple by 4.4% in the third quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 2,484,524 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $578,869,000 after purchasing an additional 104,457 shares in the last quarter. Source Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the third quarter. Source Financial Advisors LLC now owns 19,237 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,482,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Beckerman Institutional LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,380,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 259,265 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,409,000 after purchasing an additional 18,861 shares during the period. Finally, Triune Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $228,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. KeyCorp downgraded Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Down 1.0 %

AAPL opened at $234.40 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.55, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $240.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $230.36.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

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.