Iowa State Bank Buys 2,345 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Iowa State Bank grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 80,367 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 2,345 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 3.8% of Iowa State Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Iowa State Bank's holdings in Apple were worth $17,852,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $63,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $82,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Bank of America restated a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Sunday, June 1st. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $230.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $234.39.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% 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 valued at $42,694,080 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Up 0.0%

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $201.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 73,093,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,360,608. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $202.61 and a 200-day moving average of $220.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.