Farmers Trust Co. Buys 108 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Farmers Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 110,018 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 3.8% of Farmers Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Farmers Trust Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $18,866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the third quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 12,693 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,173,000 after purchasing an additional 796 shares in the last quarter. Lincoln Capital Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the third quarter. Lincoln Capital Corp now owns 55,586 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,517,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. West Coast Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the third quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 150,997 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $25,852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,616 shares in the last quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.5% in the third quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 323,629 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $55,409,000 after acquiring an additional 7,774 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth about $831,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Wedbush boosted their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. One investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.38.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $207.49 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $220.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $187.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.55%.

About Apple

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.