Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Holdings Increased by First Citizens Financial Corp

First Citizens Financial Corp grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,725 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,324 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 3.2% of First Citizens Financial Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. First Citizens Financial Corp’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,941,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Centre Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 76.2% in the fourth quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC now owns 125,528 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $31,435,000 after purchasing an additional 54,297 shares during the last quarter. NRI Wealth Management LC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $8,259,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 230,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $57,777,000 after buying an additional 30,508 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 29,563 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,403,000 after acquiring an additional 5,583 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co of the South grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 89,701 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,463,000 after acquiring an additional 15,758 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Apple from $273.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 20th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

Apple Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $244.60 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business’s 50 day moving average is $240.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $231.68. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 in the company, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company 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.