Apple Inc. $AAPL Stake Decreased by First National Trust Co

Key Points

• First National Trust Co is now the largest holder of Apple Inc. stock, comprising 5.2% of its investment portfolio, with holdings valued at approximately $128.76 million after a 2.7% reduction in shares during Q1.
• Recently, several analysts have raised their price targets for Apple, with Bank of America setting a new target of $260 and Goldman Sachs maintaining a $266 target, while the consensus rating for the stock remains as a Moderate Buy.
• Apple announced a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 0.4%, and the company posted strong earnings, beating estimates with a Q3 EPS of $1.57.

First National Trust Co decreased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 579,651 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 15,972 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 5.2% of First National Trust Co's portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. First National Trust Co's holdings in Apple were worth $128,758,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,260,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 3.9% in the first quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC now owns 7,166 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,794,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Sharpepoint LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 3.5% during the first quarter. Sharpepoint LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redwood Financial Network Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 8,720 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,184,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Morgan Stanley set a $240.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $217.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $239.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $239.69. The company's stock had a trading volume of 54,829,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 47,688,568. The stock has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.11. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $219.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $212.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The firm's revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

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.