Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is First National Corp MA ADV’s 8th Largest Position

First National Corp MA ADV increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 67,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 159 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 3.5% of First National Corp MA ADV’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. First National Corp MA ADV’s holdings in Apple were worth $15,687,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $235.06 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $228.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $219.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s 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.