Bell Bank Raises Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Bell Bank lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 15.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,994 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,065 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 2.0% of Bell Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Bell Bank’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its position in Apple by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,361 shares in the last quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 52,910 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,144,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Busey Bank lifted its position in Apple by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Busey Bank now owns 1,025,702 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $216,033,000 after acquiring an additional 7,805 shares in the last quarter. Iowa State Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 83,106 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $17,504,000 after buying an additional 1,431 shares during the period. Finally, First Bancorp Inc ME lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME now owns 30,201 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,361,000 after buying an additional 956 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Raymond James increased their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.02.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Down 3.2 %

AAPL stock opened at $222.64 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. 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 simple moving average of $241.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $230.85.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

About Apple

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.