Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Position Increased 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 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 615,166 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 11,990 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 2.3% of First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings in Apple were worth $136,647,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $1,877,000. First National Bank of Hutchinson increased its position in shares of Apple by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $8,845,000 after buying an additional 6,982 shares during the period. Capital & Planning LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 27,298 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $6,836,000 after buying an additional 2,647 shares during the period. ARS Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 378,612 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $94,812,000 after buying an additional 11,705 shares during the period. Finally, Brookmont Capital Management grew its holdings in Apple by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Brookmont Capital Management now owns 1,065 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $230.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $1.53 on Thursday, reaching $212.67. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,353,405 shares, compared to its average volume of 57,493,113. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.12, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $203.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $218.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.