Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Rockland Trust Co.’s 6th Largest Position

Rockland Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 246,805 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,081 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 2.9% of Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $47,873,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the first quarter worth $30,000. Summit Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 16,252.3% during the first quarter. Summit Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,992,420 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 6,949,659 shares during the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC raised its stake in Apple by 21.7% during the first quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 448 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Clear Perspectives Financial Planning LLC raised its stake in Apple by 27.3% during the first quarter. Clear Perspectives Financial Planning LLC now owns 983 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $172,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in Apple by 10.6% during the second quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,323 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $181,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Apple from $222.00 to $216.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 13th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Apple from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 21st. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $197.82.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $181.82 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.56, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $176.74 and a 200-day moving average of $179.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $124.17 and a 52 week high of $198.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.07. Apple had a return on equity of 160.78% and a net margin of 25.31%. The company had revenue of $89.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.49 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 13th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 65,536 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.11, for a total value of $11,279,400.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,445 shares in the company, valued at $23,483,548.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 65,536 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.11, for a total value of $11,279,400.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,483,548.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 31,685 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.69, for a total transaction of $5,661,792.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,237,944.09. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 439,585 shares of company stock worth $76,485,550 over the last ninety days. 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.