Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Somerset Trust Co’s 2nd Largest Position

Somerset Trust Co lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,106 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 573 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 4.8% of Somerset Trust Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Somerset Trust Co’s holdings in Apple were worth $12,840,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in Apple by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after acquiring an additional 126,210 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $406,099,000 after acquiring an additional 95,235 shares during the period. Bellwether Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 387.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,128,000 after acquiring an additional 19,352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 34.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 200,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $46,650,000 after acquiring an additional 51,842 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on AAPL. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $235.06 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $228.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $219.01. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.