Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Purchased by First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 615,166 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 11,990 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 2.3% of First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings in Apple were worth $136,647,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sherman Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Sherman Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,939 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,318,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. Priebe Wealth Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 21.7% in the 1st quarter. Priebe Wealth Holdings LLC now owns 6,423 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,144 shares during the period. 25 LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. 25 LLC now owns 15,862 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,523,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 63,684 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $14,146,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 453,545 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $100,746,000 after purchasing an additional 8,728 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. DA Davidson increased their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Scotiabank downgraded Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their target price for the company from $170.62 to $188.32 in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $234.95.

Apple Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of Apple stock traded up $1.13 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $211.14. 48,631,689 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 53,497,198. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $203.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $218.08.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's payout ratio is 16.20%.

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.