Apple Inc. $AAPL Position Lifted by Legacy Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Legacy Advisors LLC raised its Apple stake by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, buying 9,342 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 126,601 shares worth about $34.4 million.
• Apple reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $2.01 and revenue of $111.18 billion, both above analyst estimates, while revenue rose 16.6% year over year.
• The company also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.27 per share and recently authorized a new $100 billion share buyback, reinforcing shareholder returns as the stock trades near its 52-week high.

Legacy Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 126,601 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 9,342 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 2.9% of Legacy Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Legacy Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $34,418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Isthmus Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 97,177 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 5,808 shares during the last quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 110.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, 49 Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 40,543 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $300.23 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $265.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $267.48. The stock has a market cap of $4.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.06. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $193.46 and a 1 year high of $303.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $111.18 billion during 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%.Apple's revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Apple's payout ratio is presently 13.06%.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s post-earnings rally continues after the company posted record quarterly revenue and EPS, boosted its dividend, and authorized a fresh $100 billion buyback. Analysts say the results support further upside and have raised price targets. Apple Stock Hits All-Time High as Post-Earnings Rally Continues
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI lifted its price target on Apple to $365 and said a bull-case scenario could reach $500, citing compounding growth from Services and Apple’s ability to keep expanding free cash flow. Evercore ISI Hikes Apple Price Target to $365
• Positive Sentiment: Investor sentiment is being helped by reports that iPhone demand remains strong globally, plus Soros Fund Management reportedly boosted its Apple position during the quarter. George Soros’s fund buys Berkshire Hathaway stock — now that Buffett is gone
• Positive Sentiment: Apple reportedly cut iPhone 17 prices in China ahead of the 618 shopping festival, which could help support unit sales in a key market. Apple Cuts iPhone 17 Prices in China
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI is considering legal action over its strained ChatGPT partnership with Apple, which adds uncertainty around Apple’s AI strategy and could weigh on sentiment if the dispute escalates. OpenAI explores legal options against Apple
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Anthropic’s Mythos AI found vulnerabilities in Apple’s macOS/iOS are a reminder of ongoing security scrutiny, but the news is more reputational than fundamentally financial for now. Anthropic's Mythos Helped Find Bugs in Apple's Desktop Operating System

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $335.00 target price (up from $325.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $365.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Apple from $268.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $308.74.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $421,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,675,650. The trade was a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total value of $16,511,984.27. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at $833,980,668.14. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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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