Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Provenance Wealth Advisors reduced its Apple stake by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 4,127 shares and leaving it with 37,829 shares valued at about $10.3 million.
• Apple shares were up 2.0% in Friday trading, and the stock has been buoyed by strong recent earnings, a slightly increased quarterly dividend, and continued institutional ownership interest.
• Sentiment around Apple remains mixed: analysts are upbeat on AI-driven growth and a possible Intel chip-making deal, but the company also faces ongoing legal and regulatory scrutiny, including App Store and Siri-related disputes.

Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,829 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 4,127 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 1.1% of Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $10,284,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the third quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 9,898 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,520,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. WESPAC Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC now owns 12,326 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,351,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. American Alpha Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the third quarter. American Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 1,151 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Seven Springs Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the third quarter. Seven Springs Wealth Group LLC now owns 15,451 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,934,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Avant Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the third quarter. Avant Capital LLC now owns 4,814 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,226,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories 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

Apple Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $293.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $4.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50-day moving average of $261.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $266.04. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $193.46 and a 1-year high of $294.76.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 146.69%. Apple's revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 30,002 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,934,433.50. This trade represents a 17.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $421,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,675,650. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 96,485 shares of company stock valued at $24,594,845 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Stifel Nicolaus set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Scotiabank set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $335.00 price objective (up from $325.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Stephens set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, January 26th. 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $305.74.

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.

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.