First Bank & Trust Sells 241 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

First Bank & Trust decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,745 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 241 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 0.7% of First Bank & Trust’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,669,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 34.3% during the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $258.20 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $258.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $235.93 and a 200 day moving average of $226.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.47, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Barclays cut their price objective on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Moffett Nathanson decreased their price objective on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.78.

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.