Legacy Trust Sells 419 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Legacy Trust trimmed its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 85,083 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 419 shares during the period. Apple comprises 4.6% of Legacy Trust’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Legacy Trust’s holdings in Apple were worth $18,899,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after acquiring an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $209.11 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $203.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $216.45. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.57, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, June 13th. Raymond James Financial decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.27.

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.