First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Has $136.65 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 615,166 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 11,990 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 2.3% of First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings in Apple were worth $136,647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after buying an additional 6,307,413 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm'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 directly owned 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.6%

NASDAQ AAPL traded down $1.27 during trading on Friday, reaching $211.14. 26,418,862 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 53,390,132. 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 fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $203.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $217.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally 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 given a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on AAPL. China Renaissance began coverage on Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $241.00 target price on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. UBS Group set a $210.00 price objective on Apple and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $170.62 to $188.32 in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.27.

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.