Apella Capital LLC Buys 60,182 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Apella Capital LLC boosted its Apple stake by 31% in Q4, buying 60,182 shares to hold 254,471 shares worth about $69.18 million, making AAPL its 15th-largest holding (≈1.4% of the fund).
• Insider selling: CEO Tim Cook sold 64,949 shares under a Rule 10b5-1 plan for roughly $16.5 million (a 1.94% ownership reduction) and SVP Deirdre O'Brien sold 30,002 shares for about $7.66 million; insiders own ~0.06% of Apple.
• Apple beat quarterly expectations with EPS of $2.84 (vs. $2.67 est.) and revenue of $143.76 billion (up 15.7% YoY), supporting a "Moderate Buy" consensus and leaving April 30 earnings as the next major catalyst.

Apella Capital LLC boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 31.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 254,471 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 60,182 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 1.4% of Apella Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Apella Capital LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $69,180,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Isthmus Partners LLC grew its position in Apple by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 97,177 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 5,808 shares during the last quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 110.9% in the third quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 1,800.0% in the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,000. Finally, 49 Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. 49 Wealth Management LLC now owns 298,920 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 40,543 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Market reaction to Apple naming John Ternus as CEO has been upbeat — investors and some analysts view his hardware pedigree as a credible path to accelerate device‑level AI and product innovation, supporting near‑term confidence in AAPL. Ternus the Page: Apple's Engineering Prodigy Takes the Reins
• Positive Sentiment: Apple patched a high‑profile iPhone notification bug that exposed deleted messages; the security fix lifted sentiment around privacy and product quality and coincided with an intraday stock bounce. Apple (AAPL) Stock Climbs as iPhone Notification Bug Gets Patched
• Positive Sentiment: Channel and shipment data show strong iPhone demand (notably China) and some broker notes (e.g., Bank of America commentary) expect iPhone 17 demand to support upcoming results — a fundamental tailwind ahead of earnings. Apple gets a stunning boost as smartphone rivals stumble
• Neutral Sentiment: April 30 earnings are the next major catalyst — previews and options activity show investors positioning for a beat/miss outcome; that event could swing AAPL materially in either direction. Apple Q2 Earnings Preview: Is AAPL Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst notes: some firms reaffirm positive ratings while others flag valuation/AI execution risks — the street is split, so analyst chatter is supporting volume but not a clear directional consensus. Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Apple
• Negative Sentiment: Reports of a broader leadership exodus and that chip chief Johny Srouji is “seriously considering” leaving pose execution risk — losing senior hardware/AI talent could undermine product roadmaps during an AI pivot. Apple rocked by executive departures, with chip chief at risk of leaving next
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk surfaces in India where an accelerated antitrust probe into App Store rules could lead to structural changes or multibillion penalties — a material long‑term profit and policy risk for Apple’s services franchise. Indian Antitrust Push Tests Apple App Store Model And Valuation Narrative

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $7,661,010.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $34,934,433.50. This trade represents a 17.99% 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. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $273.43 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $193.25 and a fifty-two week high of $288.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $259.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $264.46. The company has a market cap of $4.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.57, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.11.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $143.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $138.25 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 159.94% and a net margin of 27.04%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 13.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stephens set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Moffett Nathanson increased their price target on Apple from $241.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Phillip Securities raised Apple from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, February 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Apple from $239.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $303.06.

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.

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.