Clark & Stuart Inc Acquires Shares of 8,721 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Clark & Stuart Inc purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 8,721 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $2,184,000. Apple makes up about 1.6% of Clark & Stuart Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the second quarter worth about $42,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $77,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Trading Up 0.4 %

AAPL opened at $245.83 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week 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 company has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $240.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $232.29.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Barclays upped their price objective on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

About Apple

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.