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

Ledyard National Bank lessened its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 268,406 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,819 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 5.7% of Ledyard National Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in Apple were worth $62,539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after buying an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $834,368,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after buying an additional 3,245,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tairen Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $588,952,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. Maxim Group upped their price target on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $253.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.69, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $253.83. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $233.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $224.73. 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.