Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. Has $11.10 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 66,178 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,286 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 6.2% of Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C.’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Wyrmwood Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 69.0% during the 4th quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 118.0% in the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. boosted its stake in Apple by 657.1% during the 4th quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $85,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at $5,574,531.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 192,355 shares of company stock worth $34,771,329. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $216.75 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $220.20. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $192.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Apple from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.71.

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.