Apple Inc. $AAPL is Appleton Partners Inc. MA's Largest Position

Key Points

• Appleton Partners Inc. MA trimmed its Apple stake by 1.5% in the first quarter but still held 336,626 shares, making Apple its largest position at about 6.0% of holdings.
• Apple reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $2.01 versus the $1.95 estimate and revenue of $111.18 billion, up 16.6% year over year.
• Analysts remain broadly upbeat on Apple: HSBC upgraded the stock to Buy and raised its target to $366, while MarketBeat shows a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with an average price target of $318.43.

Appleton Partners Inc. MA cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 336,626 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 5,089 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 6.0% of Appleton Partners Inc. MA's holdings, making the stock its largest position. Appleton Partners Inc. MA's holdings in Apple were worth $85,432,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $69,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $76,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of AAPL opened at $333.74 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.10. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $201.50 and a 12 month high of $334.99. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $303.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $277.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The company had revenue of $111.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.65 EPS. The company's revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 8.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 13.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $310.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $335.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. HSBC raised shares of Apple from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $260.00 to $366.00 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $318.43.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,675,650. The trade was a 10.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total transaction of $369,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,226,770. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 2,924 shares of company stock valued at $825,546 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: HSBC upgraded Apple Inc. NASDAQ: AAPL to Buy and raised its price target to $366 from $260, saying the company is at an operational turning point with AI features and hardware momentum supporting growth. HSBC upgrades Apple to Buy, sees "strong cycle ahead"
• Positive Sentiment: China approved Apple Intelligence for iPhones, and Apple will integrate Alibaba’s Qwen AI model in its China rollout, a key step that could expand Apple’s AI adoption in one of its most important markets. Alibaba and Baidu shares jump in Hong Kong on Apple AI partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports say Apple briefly overtook Nvidia in market value, reinforcing the view that investors are rotating toward Apple’s consumer execution and away from some AI-heavy names. Apple closes in on Nvidia in race for world's most valuable company
• Positive Sentiment: Several commentaries highlighted Apple’s cash generation, shareholder returns, and robotics/innovation efforts, supporting the bullish “cash flow machine” and diversification narrative. Apple’s Core Business Cash Flow Machine Will Support Innovation and Diversification

Apple Company 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.

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