4,808 Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Crown Wealth Group LLC

Key Points

• Crown Wealth Group cut its Apple stake by 13.3%, selling 4,808 shares in the third quarter; it retained 31,425 shares worth about $10.5 million.
• Apple beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue up 11.7% year over year. However, the company’s holiday-quarter gross-margin forecast is lower, as higher memory-chip costs and AI spending raise concerns about profitability.
• Analysts have a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $343.28. Apple also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share.

Crown Wealth Group LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,425 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 4,808 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 2.6% of Crown Wealth Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Crown Wealth Group LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $10,465,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lockerman Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 45.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lockerman Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,714 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 12.7% during the third quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 39,056 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $13,006,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395 shares during the period. James Hambro & Partners LLP increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 90.0% during the third quarter. James Hambro & Partners LLP now owns 4,878 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,625,000 after purchasing an additional 2,310 shares during the period. Kondo Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the third quarter. Kondo Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 13,224 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,405,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Washburn Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 17.5% in the third quarter. Washburn Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,800 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,596,000 after buying an additional 2,055 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Weiss Ratings raised Apple from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Yorkville Ives started coverage on Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $400.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $365.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Phillip Securities upped their target price on Apple from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $343.28.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $331.90 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $243.42 and a 1 year high of $351.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $334.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $297.13.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $114.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $113.40 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 128.88% and a net margin of 27.60%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.85 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 12th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Apple's payout ratio is 12.39%.

More Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple reported record September-quarter revenue of $114.48 billion, up 11.7% year over year, and EPS of $2.10, beating analyst estimates. Strong iPhone demand—iPhone revenue rose 17.5%—and Mac sales helped drive the results. Apple Q4 Earnings Beat Estimates, iPhone Drives Top-Line Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America reiterated its Buy rating, arguing that investors should look beyond near-term margin pressure to Apple’s longer-term opportunity. Buy Apple Stock After Earnings, Says Bank of America
• Negative Sentiment: The main pressure is Apple’s forecast for a 45%–46% gross margin in the holiday quarter, below the recent quarter’s 47.9%. Management cited sharply higher memory-chip costs and spending tied to Siri AI; investors worry these expenses will limit profit growth even with strong sales. Apple Shares Slide as Higher Memory Costs Fuel Margin Concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Investors also saw softer signals beneath the headline beat: services growth is expected to slow, China revenue missed expectations, and higher component costs are being accompanied by increased inventory and supplier commitments. The stock’s premium valuation may make it more vulnerable if growth or margins disappoint. Apple Growth, Margins Likely Face Pressure in 2027, UBS Says

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Timothy D. Cook sold 191,753 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.96, for a total value of $63,846,078.88. Following the transaction, the insider owned 3,264,168 shares in the company, valued at $1,086,837,377.28. The trade was a 5.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 46,389 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.42, for a total value of $15,467,020.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,615,190.20. The trade was a 25.32% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 289,252 shares of company stock worth $96,301,063 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

About Apple

Apple Inc designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and digital services. Its best-known products include the iPhone smartphone, Mac personal computers, iPad tablets, Apple Watch, AirPods and other accessories. The company also develops operating systems and applications that support its hardware ecosystem.

Apple's services business includes the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Arcade, iCloud, Apple Pay and other subscription, payment and digital-content offerings.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AAPL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.