First Bancorp Inc ME Has $5.02 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

First Bancorp Inc ME cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,245 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 974 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 3.8% of First Bancorp Inc ME’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. First Bancorp Inc ME’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after buying an additional 18,067,216 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC raised its position in Apple by 23,076.4% during the first quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,584,512,000 after buying an additional 9,200,345 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 130.1% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,815,594,000 after acquiring an additional 5,331,439 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. DA Davidson raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.71.

Apple Trading Up 2.9 %

Apple stock opened at $216.75 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $192.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $185.31. 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 $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at $5,574,531.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 192,355 shares of company stock valued at $34,771,329 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.