Arkansas Financial Group Inc. Has $1.60 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Arkansas Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 46.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,863 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,187 shares during the period. Arkansas Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,599,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Apple by 127.4% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after purchasing an additional 42,282 shares during the period. ORBA Wealth Advisors L.L.C. raised its position in Apple by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. ORBA Wealth Advisors L.L.C. now owns 71,286 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,224,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 34.8% in the first quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,980 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,883,000 after purchasing an additional 2,835 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 24.5% in the first quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 207,788 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,615,000 after purchasing an additional 40,942 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shariaportfolio Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 15.9% in the first quarter. Shariaportfolio Inc. now owns 4,961 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $851,000 after purchasing an additional 681 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Loop Capital reduced their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Maxim Group boosted their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $228.44 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $227.59 and its 200-day moving average is $217.47. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.57, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company 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.