Somerset Trust Co Raises Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Somerset Trust Co increased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,827 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 471 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 3.9% of Somerset Trust Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Somerset Trust Co’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,573,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Apple by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,236,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,406,000. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 132.8% in the 4th quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,283,000 after buying an additional 18,615 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $196.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Apple from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.06.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $209.68 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.22 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The business has a 50 day moving average of $187.25 and a 200-day moving average of $184.74. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $220.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.55%.

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.