American National Bank & Trust Purchases 4,543 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

American National Bank & Trust raised its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 195,482 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,543 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 4.1% of American National Bank & Trust’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. American National Bank & Trust’s holdings in Apple were worth $40,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Ryan Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% in the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $65,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total value of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 price target on the stock. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, CLSA raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $248.29.

Apple Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $254.04 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $236.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $215.77. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market cap of $3.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.55, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend 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%.

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.