Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Holdings Lessened by Rockland Trust Co.

Rockland Trust Co. decreased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 254,350 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,515 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 2.8% of Rockland Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $56,499,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $82,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 directly owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $170.62 to $188.32 in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. China Renaissance began coverage on Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 target price for the company. Barclays set a $173.00 target price on Apple and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.27.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $209.11 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $203.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $216.45.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

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.