First National Advisers LLC Buys 2,993 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

First National Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 169,016 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 2,993 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 6.8% of First National Advisers LLC's portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. First National Advisers LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $42,325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at $77,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Barclays dropped their target price on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 now owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock traded up $0.21 on Wednesday, hitting $200.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 44,115,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,207,844. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $204.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $225.54. The company has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Apple

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.