Zions Bancorporation N.A. Raises Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 106,630 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 3,924 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.8% of Zions Bancorporation N.A.'s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Zions Bancorporation N.A.'s holdings in Apple were worth $24,845,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,249,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 1.3% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $813,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised its position in Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory lifted its holdings in Apple by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Core Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $222.64 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $241.12 and a 200-day moving average of $230.85.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple's payout ratio is 16.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $238.02.

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.