Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Hamilton Capital Partners LLC

Key Points

• Hamilton Capital Partners reduced its Apple stake by 25.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 2,700 shares and leaving it with 7,898 shares valued at about $2.15 million.
• Apple reported a strong fiscal quarter, with EPS of $2.01 and revenue of $111.18 billion, both ahead of expectations. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.27 and maintained a large buyback program.
• Despite some insider selling, sentiment remains broadly positive: analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus on Apple, and several firms have recently lifted price targets, with upside tied to AI initiatives and Services growth.

Hamilton Capital Partners LLC cut its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 25.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,898 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 2,700 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 0.7% of Hamilton Capital Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Hamilton Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $2,147,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Overbrook Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Apple by 57.4% in the fourth 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 during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its position in shares of Apple by 48.4% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 1,426,605 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $363,256,000 after buying an additional 465,393 shares during the period. Tufton Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Apple by 4.3% in the third 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 during the period. Montis Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 15.8% in the third quarter. Montis Financial LLC now owns 77,919 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $19,841,000 after buying an additional 10,640 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.1% in the fourth 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 during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of AAPL opened at $298.21 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.06. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $193.46 and a one year high of $300.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $264.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $267.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.46 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.06%.

Apple News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s latest quarter was a clear beat, with revenue of $111.18 billion and EPS of $2.01 topping expectations, while management also approved a fresh $100 billion buyback and raised the dividend.
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI raised its price target on Apple to $365 from $330 and reiterated an Outperform rating, citing strong Services growth and long-term earnings/free-cash-flow compounding.
• Positive Sentiment: Investor enthusiasm remains elevated around Apple’s AI roadmap, with reports pointing to WWDC as a potential catalyst and broader expectations that Apple can monetize AI through devices and Services.
• Positive Sentiment: China-related headlines may also help sentiment, as Xi Jinping told U.S. CEOs including Tim Cook that China will “open wider,” easing some concerns about Apple’s supply chain and market access.
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple is reportedly exploring new AI-agent support in the App Store and additional iOS features, which could support the ecosystem but are still early-stage product rumors.
• Neutral Sentiment: Security reports about vulnerabilities found in macOS/iOS are a reminder of cyber risks, but they do not yet appear to be a material earnings issue.
• Negative Sentiment: OpenAI is reportedly considering legal action against Apple over their ChatGPT partnership, raising the risk of a public dispute around Apple’s AI strategy.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling and a reported Foxconn ransomware incident may slightly temper sentiment, though neither looks large enough to outweigh the bullish earnings and analyst upgrades.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company's stock, valued at $833,980,668.14. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total value of $369,460.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,226,770. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 97,759 shares of company stock worth $24,964,305. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $375.00 target price (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Apple from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Moffett Nathanson upped their target price on Apple from $241.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, KGI Securities raised Apple to an "outperform" rating and set a $306.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $308.74.

About Apple

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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