Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by St. Louis Trust Co

Key Points

• St. Louis Trust Co significantly reduced its stake in Apple Inc. by 94.9%, selling 17,338 shares and lowering its holdings to 939 shares valued at $209,000.
• Multiple large investors made changes to their Apple positions, with Burkett Financial Services increasing their stake by 0.6% and Avid Wealth Partners growing theirs by 28.3% in the first quarter.
• Apple recently reported earnings exceeding analyst expectations with $1.57 EPS and $94.04 billion in revenue for the quarter, marking a 9.6% year-over-year increase.

St. Louis Trust Co lessened its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 94.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 939 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 17,338 shares during the period. St. Louis Trust Co's holdings in Apple were worth $209,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Burkett Financial Services LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the first quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,199,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 28.3% in the first quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $935,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares during the period. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Apple by 2.8% during the first quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,045,000 after buying an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Finally, Allstate Corp lifted its position in Apple by 3,368.2% during the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $113,062,000 after buying an additional 438,471 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Apple from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $240.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $239.05.

Apple Stock Up 0.5%

NASDAQ AAPL traded up $1.31 on Thursday, reaching $239.78. The company had a trading volume of 47,452,243 shares, compared to its average volume of 49,822,344. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $218.50 and a 200-day moving average of $212.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.