Renasant Bank Sells 743 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Renasant Bank lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,868 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 743 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 2.1% of Renasant Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Renasant Bank’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. King Wealth Management Group raised its holdings in Apple by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 136,570 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $34,200,000 after buying an additional 12,210 shares during the last quarter. May Barnhard Investments LLC bought a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,172,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,383,000. LBP AM SA grew its position in Apple by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 971,086 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $243,179,000 after buying an additional 71,092 shares during the period. Finally, Integras Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $890,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Raymond James dropped their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.80.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $195.27 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.00, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $205.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $225.92.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.