Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Increased by Sunflower Bank N.A.

Sunflower Bank N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,661 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 0.9% of Sunflower Bank N.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Sunflower Bank N.A.’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,183,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after purchasing an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in Apple by 7.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,369,852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474,887 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 3.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,291,583,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Apple by 13.4% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,214,222,000 after acquiring an additional 2,359,409 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. KeyCorp downgraded Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.68.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $239.59 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $240.79. The company has a market cap of $3.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.41, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $229.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $220.02.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.