FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Sells 3,110 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH lessened its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 127,440 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,110 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 7.9% of FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in Apple were worth $31,914,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after buying an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,121,656,000 after buying an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James raised their target price on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 20th. Citigroup increased their price target on Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays increased their price target on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.88.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $238.03 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $239.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $233.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.78, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. On average, 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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.