Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Peoples Financial Services CORP.

Key Points

• Peoples Financial Services CORP. reduced its Apple stake by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 2,021 shares and leaving it with 44,039 shares worth about $11.97 million.
• Apple recently beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $2.01 EPS on $111.18 billion in revenue, while also raising its quarterly dividend to $0.27 per share.
• Analysts remain generally bullish on Apple, with recent target hikes tied to AI optimism and a possible Intel chip-making deal; the stock currently has a Moderate Buy consensus and a target price of $305.74.

Peoples Financial Services CORP. lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 44,039 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 2,021 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 5.6% of Peoples Financial Services CORP.'s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Peoples Financial Services CORP.'s holdings in Apple were worth $11,972,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $311,157,662,000 after purchasing an additional 5,005,297 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $123,358,461,000 after purchasing an additional 5,224,229 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $72,506,336,000 after purchasing an additional 4,942,638 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $38,942,255,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. KGI Securities raised Apple to an "outperform" rating and set a $306.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $330.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 1st. BNP Paribas Exane raised Apple from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Apple from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One investment 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $305.74.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush lifted Apple’s price target to $400 and said AI could drive a major growth wave for AAPL. Apple price target boosted by Wedbush on AI monetization expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Apple reached a preliminary chip-making deal with Intel boosted confidence in Apple’s manufacturing strategy and supply chain flexibility. Apple, Intel Have Reached Preliminary Chip-Making Agreement
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts see WWDC as a potential inflection point, with upcoming AI-related software features seen as a possible catalyst for Apple’s next leg higher. Apple’s biggest bull is now calling for a 37% stock jump
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple remains near its recent highs after strong quarterly results, keeping investor expectations elevated ahead of the next catalyst. Dow Jones Futures: Market At Highs With Iran, Trump-Xi Summit In Focus; Apple, Nvidia, Boeing In Buy Areas
• Negative Sentiment: Apple also faces ongoing legal and regulatory noise, including a Siri settlement and App Store antitrust disputes, which could weigh on sentiment if they escalate. Apple promised a smarter Siri, but a lawsuit says it didn’t deliver—and you can get up to $95 back

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $421,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of Apple 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 of the company's stock, valued at $833,980,668.14. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 96,485 shares of company stock valued at $24,594,845. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $293.25 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $193.46 and a twelve month high of $294.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $261.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $266.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.46, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.06.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The business had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $109.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

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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