Trust Co. of Vermont Sells 46,293 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Trust Co. of Vermont lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 522,030 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 46,293 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 6.7% of Trust Co. of Vermont’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Apple were worth $100,506,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,018,010 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,677,190,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,360 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 54,702,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,531,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,587 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Itau BBA Securities upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Apple from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Maxim Group started coverage on Apple in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $178.00 target price for the company. Finally, DZ Bank restated a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $207.47.

Apple Trading Up 2.0 %

AAPL stock opened at $216.67 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.70, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $220.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $184.73 and a 200-day moving average of $184.19.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

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.