Exchange Bank Sells 514 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Exchange Bank decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 28,641 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 514 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 5.5% of Exchange Bank’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Exchange Bank’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,673,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP increased its stake in Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.68.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $237.33 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $229.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $220.02. The firm has a market cap of $3.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.81.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s payout ratio is 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.