First Financial Bank Trust Division Has $35.23 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

First Financial Bank Trust Division cut its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 140,676 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,438 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 3.3% of First Financial Bank Trust Division’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. First Financial Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Apple were worth $35,228,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Amara Financial LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $280.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 target price (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $242.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % 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. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Up 1.3 %

AAPL stock opened at $244.60 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $240.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $231.68. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

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.