Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Free Report) by 3.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 106,630 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,924 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 1.8% of Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s holdings in Apple were worth $24,845,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Verus Financial Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Brown Financial Advisory grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the 2nd 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 period. Finally, Core Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup upped their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson restated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price target (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.02.
Apple Trading Down 3.2 %
NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $222.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $241.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 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 $260.10.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. 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 business earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.
Apple Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.
Insider Transactions at Apple
In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.
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.
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