St. Louis Trust Co Sells 939 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

St. Louis Trust Co lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,620 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 939 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 0.6% of St. Louis Trust Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. St. Louis Trust Co’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,338,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Apple by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,807 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,291,583,000 after buying an additional 1,065,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 34,486,195 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,035,283,000 after buying an additional 432,140 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $229.82 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $240.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $230.68. The company has a market cap of $3.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

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. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price target (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $253.00 price target (down previously from $256.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Loop Capital cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.05.

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.