Mechanics Bank Trust Department Has $41.48 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Mechanics Bank Trust Department lessened its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 202,174 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 20,764 shares during the period. Apple comprises 5.9% of Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Apple were worth $41,480,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $311,157,662,000 after purchasing an additional 5,005,297 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,999,145,000 after buying an additional 6,307,413 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $39,065,374,000 after buying an additional 205,656,808 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Apple in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 price target on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Wedbush set a $310.00 price objective on Apple and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Moffett Nathanson raised Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $247.51.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $257.13 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $232.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $214.38. The company has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.02, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 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 the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. Apple’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

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.