Cetera Trust Company N.A Has $10.57 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Cetera Trust Company N.A lessened its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,360 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,245 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 6.5% of Cetera Trust Company N.A’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Cetera Trust Company N.A’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,569,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after buying an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after buying an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Apple by 5.2% in the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $406,099,000 after buying an additional 95,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its holdings in Apple by 15.2% in the third quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 149,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $34,768,000 after buying an additional 19,670 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $248.05 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.80, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a fifty day moving average of $234.01 and a 200 day moving average of $224.89. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $254.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on AAPL. Citigroup raised their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Melius Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

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.