Apple Inc. $AAPL Stock Holdings Reduced by First Financial Bank Trust Division

First Financial Bank Trust Division reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 125,031 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,475 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 2.7% of First Financial Bank Trust Division’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. First Financial Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Apple were worth $31,837,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Beacon Wealthcare LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. Beacon Wealthcare LLC now owns 6,016 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,532,000 after acquiring an additional 908 shares in the last quarter. Farmers Trust Co. raised its holdings in Apple by 11.3% during the third quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 101,192 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $25,767,000 after purchasing an additional 10,291 shares during the last quarter. Hobart Private Capital LLC boosted its position in Apple by 26.7% during the third quarter. Hobart Private Capital LLC now owns 9,984 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,101 shares in the last quarter. Rydar Equities Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at $8,800,000. Finally, Gilbert Capital Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at $1,077,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Apple from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. DZ Bank raised shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Wedbush set a $350.00 target price on Apple and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $282.51.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $274.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $4.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $268.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $238.34. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $288.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.65 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 164.05% and a net margin of 26.92%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.64 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 13.92%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 15,098 shares in the company, valued at $4,095,030.54. This represents a 19.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.