Apriem Advisors Acquires 2,121 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Apriem Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 236,367 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,121 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 5.9% of Apriem Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Apriem Advisors’ holdings in Apple were worth $64,259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Overbrook Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Apple by 57.4% in the 4th quarter. Overbrook Management Corp now owns 104,648 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $28,449,000 after buying an additional 38,174 shares in the last quarter. Tufton Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Apple by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tufton Capital Management now owns 100,130 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $25,496,000 after buying an additional 4,157 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth $1,178,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Apple by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,044,697 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,915,172,000 after buying an additional 214,215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 2,246,305 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $572,168,000 after buying an additional 116,960 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total transaction of $16,511,984.27. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 30,002 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.35, for a total value of $7,661,010.70. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,810 shares in the company, valued at $34,934,433.50. This represents a 17.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 97,759 shares of company stock worth $24,964,305. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $291.13 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.20, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $285.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $272.27. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $195.07 and a 52-week high of $317.40.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued 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 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued 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. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $276.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $330.00 target price on Apple in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Maxim Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 target price (up from $310.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.59.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s Services business posted record revenue in the fiscal second quarter, supported by ecosystem growth, AI-related updates, and its huge installed device base. Apple Continues to Expand Services Business: What’s the Path Ahead?
• Positive Sentiment: Several commentators said Apple still has strong fundamentals, including a solid balance sheet, loyal customer base, and products investors continue to love, which supports the long-term bull case. Jim Cramer on Apple: “It Still Has Products We All Love”
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at Erste Group Bank raised their earnings estimates for Apple, signaling expectations for steady profit growth over the next two fiscal years. Apple earnings estimate update
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple’s WWDC announcements showed a clearer AI roadmap, including next-generation Siri features and device software updates, but the market appears to be waiting for stronger evidence that these changes will drive meaningful revenue growth. Apple Unveils Siri AI. Here’s Why It’s Not Impressing Investors
• Neutral Sentiment: Some coverage suggested Apple’s AI launch could help the stock over time, but it may take more than Siri upgrades alone to restore investor enthusiasm. Apple Just Gave Investors a Glimpse of Is AI Future at WWDC. It May Take More to Revive AAPL Stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are worried Apple’s AI ambitions are colliding with a memory-cost crunch, creating pricing pressure that could weigh on margins. Apple Faces a No-Win Pricing Dilemma. Should Investors Be Worried?
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports say the market was disappointed that Apple’s Siri AI reveal did not feel like a big enough breakthrough to justify a sharper rerating of the stock. Apple’s AI News Underwhelms. Siri AI Release Concerns Persist.

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.