Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd. Decreases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 26.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 101,954 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 37,361 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 9.1% of Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $27,852,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Osprey Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 55.1% during the fourth quarter. Osprey Private Wealth LLC now owns 28,633 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,784,000 after purchasing an additional 10,173 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 3,253 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $884,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Income Insurance Ltd bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $12,287,000. D Orazio & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 44,074 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,982,000 after acquiring an additional 3,869 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballast Rock Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,965,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total transaction of $369,460.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares in the company, valued at $11,226,770. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 30,002 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.35, for a total transaction of $7,661,010.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,934,433.50. The trade was a 17.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $310.26 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $279.10 and its 200-day moving average is $270.84. The stock has a market cap of $4.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $195.07 and a twelve month high of $316.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is 13.06%.

Apple News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analysts reiterated bullish views on Apple ahead of WWDC, including Goldman Sachs keeping a Buy rating with a $340 target and Evercore ISI lifting its target to $365, citing Apple’s AI roadmap, ecosystem strength, and services growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Investor expectations remain high that Apple will unveil major AI updates at WWDC, especially a rebuilt Siri and deeper Apple Intelligence features, which could extend the stock’s recent rally. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports suggest Apple may expand its ecosystem with a native bill-splitting/payment feature in iOS, which could deepen user engagement and strengthen its services revenue stream. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary around Apple’s stock has been upbeat, with articles highlighting outperformance versus the S&P 500 and strong demand for iPhones and Macs ahead of the conference. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: UBS said not to expect fireworks from WWDC and kept a Neutral rating, suggesting the event may not deliver a near-term stock catalyst if announcements disappoint. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple’s recent gains and all-time high have also prompted valuation concerns, with some analysts and commentators warning the shares may already price in a lot of good news. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reuters reported that Apple agreed to submit India business financials in an antitrust case, keeping regulatory risk in focus and raising the possibility of penalties. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive headlines from Nvidia, Walmart, and others show mounting pressure on parts of Apple’s ecosystem, including PCs and payments, which could weigh on sentiment if rivals gain traction. Article Title

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective (up from $330.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $312.82.

About Apple

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.