Greenleaf Trust Grows Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Greenleaf Trust lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 702,624 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 8,960 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 1.5% of Greenleaf Trust's portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Greenleaf Trust's holdings in Apple were worth $163,711,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. Cordant Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 34.3% in the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $158,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP grew its position in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $175,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $206,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Evercore ISI reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $236.78.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $4.70 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $254.49. 145,580,875 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 57,671,145. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $255.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $234.97 and a 200 day moving average of $225.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company's stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. 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.