First County Bank CT Sells 1,383 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• First County Bank CT reduced its holdings in Apple Inc. by 4.5%, selling 1,383 shares and ending the quarter with 29,103 shares, valued at approximately $5.97 million.
• Several brokerages have recently adjusted their price targets for Apple, with Bank of America raising its target to $270 and CLSA issuing a "strong-buy" rating.
• Apple announced a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, with a current dividend yield of 0.4%, reflecting a strong financial performance with a recent earnings per share of $1.57.

First County Bank CT lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 4.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,103 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,383 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 3.2% of First County Bank CT's holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. First County Bank CT's holdings in Apple were worth $5,971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Salus Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Sharpepoint LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Sharpepoint LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $322,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 8,720 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,184,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC now owns 4,016 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $892,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virginia Wealth Management Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Virginia Wealth Management Group Inc. now owns 20,946 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,298,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. HSBC set a $220.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. CLSA upgraded Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, October 5th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $248.29.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $249.34 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $240.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $216.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.78%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,005,982.82. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,922 shares of company stock worth $64,320,190 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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