Eastern Bank Has $267.77 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Eastern Bank boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 180.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,149,239 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 739,207 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 4.8% of Eastern Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Apple were worth $267,773,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Cordant Inc. raised its position in Apple by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.7% in 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 during the period. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $206,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 29th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays dropped their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $248.05 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $234.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $224.89. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $254.28. The firm has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. 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.