Breachway Investments LLC Purchases New Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Breachway Investments LLC opened a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter, buying 8,886 shares worth about $2.4 million. Apple now represents roughly 2.5% of the firm’s portfolio and is its 10th-largest holding.
• Apple’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $2.01 and revenue of $111.18 billion, while revenue rose 16.6% year over year. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.27 per share.
• Wall Street remains generally positive on Apple, with analysts assigning a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $308.74. However, insider selling continued, including share sales by CEO Tim Cook and CFO Kevan Parekh.

Breachway Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 8,886 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $2,416,000. Apple makes up approximately 2.5% of Breachway Investments LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Isthmus Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 6.4% in the third quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 97,177 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 5,808 shares in the last quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 110.9% in the third quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 1,800.0% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, 49 Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 15.7% in the third quarter. 49 Wealth Management LLC now owns 298,920 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 40,543 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $300.23 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $193.46 and a fifty-two week high of $303.20. The company has a market capitalization of $4.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $265.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $267.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07.

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. Apple had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 146.69%. The business had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 13.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating and issued a $335.00 price objective (up from $325.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $253.00 price objective (up from $248.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $308.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction 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 $3,675,650. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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 ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Apple

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

Apple Company 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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