Apple Inc. $AAPL Stock Position Reduced by Journey Advisory Group LLC

Key Points

• Journey Advisory Group LLC reduced its Apple holdings by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 5,446 shares and ending with 147,645 shares valued at about $40.1 million.
• Apple continues to draw strong investor and analyst support after reporting record quarterly revenue and earnings, boosting its dividend, and authorizing a new $100 billion buyback. The stock has also hit an all-time high, and several analysts raised price targets.
• Despite the bullish backdrop, there was notable insider selling: CEO Tim Cook and SVP Deirdre O'Brien both sold shares in April under pre-arranged trading plans, while Apple’s stock recently traded near $300 with a market cap of about $4.41 trillion.

Journey Advisory Group LLC lessened its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 147,645 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 5,446 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 3.4% of Journey Advisory Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Journey Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $40,139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Overbrook Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 57.4% during the fourth quarter. Overbrook Management Corp now owns 104,648 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $28,449,000 after purchasing an additional 38,174 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 48.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 465,393 shares during the last quarter. Tufton Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.3% during the third quarter. Tufton Capital Management now owns 100,130 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $25,496,000 after purchasing an additional 4,157 shares during the last quarter. Montis Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 15.8% during 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 stake in shares of Apple by 3.1% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple News Summary

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

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 30,002 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,934,433.50. This trade represents a 17.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total transaction of $16,511,984.27. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. The trade was 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 have sold a total of 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $300.23 on Friday. 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 $4.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.30, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.06. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $193.46 and a 52 week high of $303.20. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $265.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $267.48.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Apple's payout ratio is 13.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Stephens set a $315.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, January 26th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Apple from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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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