Apple Inc. $AAPL Stake Trimmed by Thomasville National Bank

Thomasville National Bank reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 233,005 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 21,770 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 3.3% of Thomasville National Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Thomasville National Bank’s holdings in Apple were worth $47,806,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,868,648,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $255.46 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.11. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $228.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $213.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $240.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 25th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $190.67 to $205.82 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $245.66.

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.