Security National Bank of SO Dak Buys 1,611 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Security National Bank of SO Dak boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,679 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 1,611 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 5.6% of Security National Bank of SO Dak's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Security National Bank of SO Dak's holdings in Apple were worth $9,925,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Apple during the 1st quarter valued at about $58,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 21st. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup lifted their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $237.37.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL traded up $0.80 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $230.11. The stock had a trading volume of 19,336,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,990,016. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $213.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $212.93. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.93, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.78%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.