First Financial Corp IN Sells 178 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

First Financial Corp IN decreased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 20,884 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 178 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 2.4% of First Financial Corp IN’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. First Financial Corp IN’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Amara Financial LLC. bought a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after acquiring an additional 126,210 shares during the period. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 2,565 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $245.55 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $240.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $232.72. The company has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.98, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded 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 assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $244.85.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate 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.