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Ames National Corp Makes New $4.77 Million Investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

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Ames National Corp bought a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 19,034 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $4,766,000. Apple makes up about 3.0% of Ames National Corp's holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 524,466 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $131,337,000 after buying an additional 14,111 shares during the last quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,308 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,583,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC now owns 66,490 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $16,651,000 after purchasing an additional 962 shares during the last quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $896,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bard Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 488,717 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $122,385,000 after acquiring an additional 3,795 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Maxim Group increased their target price on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $234.86.

View Our Latest Report on Apple

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $195.64 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $202.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $222.47. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.22. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AAPL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report).

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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