Ames National Corp Purchases New Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ames National Corp acquired a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 19,034 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $4,766,000. Apple accounts for approximately 3.0% of Ames National Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. China Renaissance started coverage on Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $241.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.86.

Apple Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of Apple stock traded up $4.42 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $201.00. 95,792,149 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 53,610,148. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company has a fifty day moving average of $202.35 and a 200-day moving average of $221.56. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

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.