Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is First Financial Bank Trust Division's 8th Largest Position

First Financial Bank Trust Division reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 5.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 132,751 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 7,925 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 2.9% of First Financial Bank Trust Division's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. First Financial Bank Trust Division's holdings in Apple were worth $29,488,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $65,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $234.86.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock traded down $1.20 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $200.30. 53,951,325 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 53,512,333. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $202.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $220.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.22. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

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

Apple declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

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.