Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Purchased by Fulton Bank N.A.

Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 287,242 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,118 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 2.0% of Fulton Bank N.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Apple were worth $49,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the third quarter. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,802 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,877,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Flagstone Financial Management boosted its stake in Apple by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. High Pines Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,638,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Asset Planning Corporation boosted its stake in Apple by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 11,224 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,120,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Apple from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Itau BBA Securities upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following 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 available at this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 1.0 %

Apple stock opened at $207.49 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $187.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $220.20. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. Apple’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors 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.