Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Emprise Bank’s 8th Largest Position

Emprise Bank lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 24,258 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,531 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 3.3% of Emprise Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Emprise Bank’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,652,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth $42,000. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter worth about $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP lifted its stake in Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $208,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value 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 represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.51.

Apple Stock Up 1.3 %

AAPL opened at $228.02 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $227.18 and a 200-day moving average of $217.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.49.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.