Clark Asset Management LLC Buys 12,544 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Clark Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 100,525 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,544 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 2.8% of Clark Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Clark Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $27,329,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First National Bank of Hutchinson grew its stake in shares of Apple by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,845,000 after purchasing an additional 6,982 shares during the period. Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,544,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $134,554,000 after purchasing an additional 69,207 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,742,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares during the period. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE grew its stake in Apple by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 50,264 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,587,000 after acquiring an additional 1,155 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $365.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Apple from $268.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group set a $296.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Apple from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $308.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 30,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.35, for a total value of $7,661,010.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,934,433.50. This represents a 17.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total value of $16,511,984.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $833,980,668.14. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

More Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s post-earnings rally continues after the company posted record quarterly revenue and EPS, boosted its dividend, and authorized a fresh $100 billion buyback. Analysts say the results support further upside and have raised price targets. Apple Stock Hits All-Time High as Post-Earnings Rally Continues
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI lifted its price target on Apple to $365 and said a bull-case scenario could reach $500, citing compounding growth from Services and Apple’s ability to keep expanding free cash flow. Evercore ISI Hikes Apple Price Target to $365
• Positive Sentiment: Investor sentiment is being helped by reports that iPhone demand remains strong globally, plus Soros Fund Management reportedly boosted its Apple position during the quarter. George Soros’s fund buys Berkshire Hathaway stock — now that Buffett is gone
• Positive Sentiment: Apple reportedly cut iPhone 17 prices in China ahead of the 618 shopping festival, which could help support unit sales in a key market. Apple Cuts iPhone 17 Prices in China
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI is considering legal action over its strained ChatGPT partnership with Apple, which adds uncertainty around Apple’s AI strategy and could weigh on sentiment if the dispute escalates. OpenAI explores legal options against Apple
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Anthropic’s Mythos AI found vulnerabilities in Apple’s macOS/iOS are a reminder of ongoing security scrutiny, but the news is more reputational than fundamentally financial for now. Anthropic’s Mythos Helped Find Bugs in Apple’s Desktop Operating System

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $300.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $4.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $265.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $267.48. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $193.46 and a 1-year high of $303.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $111.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.46 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.06%.

Apple Profile

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.

Apple’s principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.