Old North State Trust LLC Grows Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Old North State Trust LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 43,991 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,231 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 8.0% of Old North State Trust LLC’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Old North State Trust LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Verus Financial Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 0.7% in the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. grew its position in Apple by 1.1% in the second quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $949,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Tigress Financial boosted 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, Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.51.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,469,275. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 412,746 shares of company stock valued at $93,021,362. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $224.23 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $226.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $214.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.49.

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, 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 business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.