CoreFirst Bank & Trust Invests $12.36 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 49,338 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $12,355,000. Apple accounts for about 7.3% of CoreFirst Bank & Trust's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Barnett & Company Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Barnett & Company Inc. now owns 5,234 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,311,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Grantvest Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,370,000. Lynx Investment Advisory boosted its position in shares of Apple by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory now owns 26,389 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $6,609,000 after acquiring an additional 529 shares during the period. Sequent Planning LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Sequent Planning LLC now owns 7,080 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,773,000 after acquiring an additional 659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC raised its stake in Apple by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC now owns 73,866 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $18,498,000 after purchasing an additional 939 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $0.54 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $202.28. The company had a trading volume of 29,288,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,013,061. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day moving average of $201.99 and a 200 day moving average of $224.54.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors 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.