Mariner LLC Purchases 853,890 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Mariner LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,268,228 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 853,890 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 5.5% of Mariner LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Mariner LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,694,783,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,266,468,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at about $17,472,482,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its stake in Apple by 890.7% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 41,984,810 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,413,990,000 after acquiring an additional 37,746,784 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Apple by 20,464.8% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,069,029 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,553,753,000 after acquiring an additional 26,937,401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $387,749,545,000 after acquiring an additional 26,856,752 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush said Apple’s WWDC AI rollout could be the “first step” toward adding as much as $100 to the stock, as investors focus on the company’s AI execution and the potential for a stronger Siri/Apple Intelligence roadmap. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports on iOS 27 and Apple Intelligence suggest Apple is making progress on features that could improve older iPhones, expand software value, and strengthen the case for users to upgrade into the next product cycle. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary remains constructive, with several firms reiterating buy/overweight views and price targets clustered well above current levels, reinforcing a bullish long-term sentiment on AAPL. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles highlight Apple’s strong recent operating performance, including record iPhone demand and services revenue, but these are largely a rehash of prior earnings strength rather than a fresh catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: A Yahoo Finance report says rising memory chip costs could pressure Apple’s hardware margins as AI features require more device memory, creating a potential headwind for profitability over the next few quarters. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Broader sentiment is also being dampened by articles noting that the Magnificent Seven, including Apple, have been weak in June and have lagged the broader market at times, which can weigh on near-term momentum. Article Title

Apple Stock Up 1.8%

Apple stock opened at $296.42 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $195.07 and a 1-year high of $317.40. The company has a market cap of $4.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $286.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $272.38.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The firm had revenue of $111.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. BNP Paribas Exane raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, April 17th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, June 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 30,002 shares of Apple 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,810 shares in the company, valued at $34,934,433.50. The trade was a 17.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $421,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,675,650. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.