Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Holdings Increased by Independence Bank of Kentucky

Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 26.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 100,257 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 20,846 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 5.0% of Independence Bank of Kentucky’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Independence Bank of Kentucky’s holdings in Apple were worth $23,360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Granite Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Apple by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in Apple by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $406,099,000 after purchasing an additional 95,235 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Apple by 34.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 200,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $46,650,000 after purchasing an additional 51,842 shares during the period. Finally, Bellwether Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 387.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,128,000 after purchasing an additional 19,352 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $234.93 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $228.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $219.23. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $237.49. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued 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 dividend yield of 0.43%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

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.