First Community Trust NA Has $9.98 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

First Community Trust NA increased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 58,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 9.4% of First Community Trust NA’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. First Community Trust NA’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,983,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Apple by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,018,010 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 14,395.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Apple by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,677,190,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,360 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $208.14 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 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. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $220.20.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on AAPL. DA Davidson raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.83.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.