Rockland Trust Co. Decreases Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Rockland Trust Co. decreased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 254,350 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,515 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 2.8% of Rockland Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $56,499,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Raymond James Financial lowered 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. Finally, Barclays set a $173.00 price target on Apple and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.27.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $209.11 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $203.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $216.45. The company has a market cap of $3.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.57, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.50%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.