Grove Bank & Trust Sells 3,381 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Grove Bank & Trust cut its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 172,604 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 3,381 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 5.1% of Grove Bank & Trust's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Grove Bank & Trust's holdings in Apple were worth $38,341,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fogel Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Fogel Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,062 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,456,000 after buying an additional 637 shares during the last quarter. Signature Wealth Management Group boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 13.0% in the first quarter. Signature Wealth Management Group now owns 10,526 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,211 shares during the period. Community Trust & Investment Co. increased its stake in Apple by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. now owns 366,602 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $81,433,000 after buying an additional 3,134 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in Apple by 124.3% in the 1st quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 2,400 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $533,000 after buying an additional 1,330 shares during the period. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 8.9% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,614,764 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $580,818,000 after acquiring an additional 214,083 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock traded up $0.90 on Thursday, reaching $215.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 26,462,465 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,728,691. The business's fifty day moving average price is $204.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $215.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $3.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.46, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

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

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.11.

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.