Apple Inc. $AAPL Stake Lowered by Nwam LLC

Key Points

• Nwam LLC reduced its Apple stake by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 15,593 shares and leaving it with 252,603 shares valued at about $65.5 million. Apple remains the fund’s second-largest holding, at 3.7% of its portfolio.
• Apple reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $2.01 topping estimates and revenue of $111.18 billion beating expectations. Revenue rose 16.6% year over year, and analysts now expect full-year EPS of 8.74.
• The company raised its dividend to $0.27 per share from $0.26, equal to an annualized payout of $1.08 and a yield of 0.3%. The article also notes continued analyst support and investor focus on Apple’s upcoming AI-related announcements.

Nwam LLC lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 252,603 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 15,593 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 3.7% of Nwam LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Nwam LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $65,461,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,942,255,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter valued at about $17,472,482,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 20,464.8% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,069,029 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,553,753,000 after purchasing an additional 26,937,401 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $387,749,545,000 after purchasing an additional 26,856,752 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Down 1.6%

AAPL opened at $310.26 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $279.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $270.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $4.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $195.07 and a 52 week high of $316.94.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%.The firm's revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.06%.

Trending Headlines about Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analysts reiterated bullish views on Apple ahead of WWDC, including Goldman Sachs keeping a Buy rating with a $340 target and Evercore ISI lifting its target to $365, citing Apple’s AI roadmap, ecosystem strength, and services growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Investor expectations remain high that Apple will unveil major AI updates at WWDC, especially a rebuilt Siri and deeper Apple Intelligence features, which could extend the stock’s recent rally. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports suggest Apple may expand its ecosystem with a native bill-splitting/payment feature in iOS, which could deepen user engagement and strengthen its services revenue stream. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary around Apple’s stock has been upbeat, with articles highlighting outperformance versus the S&P 500 and strong demand for iPhones and Macs ahead of the conference. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: UBS said not to expect fireworks from WWDC and kept a Neutral rating, suggesting the event may not deliver a near-term stock catalyst if announcements disappoint. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple’s recent gains and all-time high have also prompted valuation concerns, with some analysts and commentators warning the shares may already price in a lot of good news. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reuters reported that Apple agreed to submit India business financials in an antitrust case, keeping regulatory risk in focus and raising the possibility of penalties. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive headlines from Nvidia, Walmart, and others show mounting pressure on parts of Apple’s ecosystem, including PCs and payments, which could weigh on sentiment if rivals gain traction. Article Title

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 30,002 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.35, for a total transaction of $7,661,010.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,934,433.50. This represents a 17.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Apple from $268.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $335.00 target price (up from $325.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $330.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $312.82.

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.

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