Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by HTLF Bank

HTLF Bank lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 107,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,860 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.7% of HTLF Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. HTLF Bank’s holdings in Apple were worth $24,967,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory increased its stake in Apple by 3.8% in the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Core Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Apple by 1.7% in the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 0.7% during the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.1% during the second quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $949,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Maxim Group upped their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two analysts have 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.68.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $243.04 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $230.23 and a 200-day moving average of $221.05. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $244.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.97, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

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.