First Merchants Corp Raises Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

First Merchants Corp increased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 223,530 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,463 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 3.5% of First Merchants Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Apple were worth $43,036,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. increased its holdings in Apple by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. now owns 11,464 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,963,000 after acquiring an additional 598 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 13.6% in the third quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 172,823 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $29,589,000 after purchasing an additional 20,737 shares in the last quarter. Headinvest LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 75,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,461,000 after purchasing an additional 10,425 shares during the period. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 4,307,068 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $829,240,000 after buying an additional 279,311 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $169.30 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $199.62. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $172.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.63. The stock has a market cap of $2.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.37, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler Companies cut Apple to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $220.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 25th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $158.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Redburn Partners downgraded shares of Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.62.

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.