United Bank Has $10.17 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

United Bank trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 43,664 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 374 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 1.2% of United Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. United Bank’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,174,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Heritage Family Offices LLP bought a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,331,000. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 6,321,897 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,331,518,000 after acquiring an additional 1,031,405 shares during the last quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 32,694 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,886,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. White Wing Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Apple by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. White Wing Wealth Management now owns 8,143 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,715,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Counselors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 1,416,737 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $298,393,000 after acquiring an additional 26,192 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $236.87 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $240.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $231.30. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James raised their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 20th. Maxim Group boosted their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.52.

Apple Company 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.