First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Has $119.85 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 514,384 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 10,249 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 1.8% of First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $119,851,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Verus Financial Partners Inc. increased 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 worth $3,566,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory lifted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Lowery Thomas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Latitude Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,016,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $247.96 on Friday. 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 50-day moving average of $231.63 and a 200 day moving average of $222.83. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $250.80. The company has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.78, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given 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 0.40%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on Apple to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.