Citizens National Bank Trust Department Increases Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Citizens National Bank Trust Department increased its Apple stake by 17% in the first quarter, adding 22,187 shares to own 152,949 shares valued at approximately $38.8 million. Apple now represents about 6.5% of the fund’s portfolio and is its largest holding.
• Institutional investors own 67.73% of Apple, with Vanguard, State Street, Geode and Morgan Stanley among the largest holders. Analysts give the stock a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $327.40.
• Apple is benefiting from optimism ahead of earnings and expanded its hardware leasing program, but investors face valuation, component-cost and tariff risks. Shares opened at $340.08, near their 12-month high, while the company trades at a P/E ratio of 41.12.

Citizens National Bank Trust Department raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 17.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 152,949 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 22,187 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 6.5% of Citizens National Bank Trust Department's portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Citizens National Bank Trust Department's holdings in Apple were worth $38,817,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the fourth 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 last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 604,056,505 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $164,218,801,000 after purchasing an additional 6,555,392 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 358,032,517 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $97,031,587,000 after purchasing an additional 1,866,103 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 230,483,035 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $62,659,118,000 after purchasing an additional 1,379,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $52,266,468,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investor optimism is building ahead of earnings. Analysts expect continued strength in iPhone and Services revenue, while Goldman Sachs raised its price target and projected outperformance in iPhone and Mac sales. Options activity also indicates expectations for a substantial post-earnings move. Goldman raises Apple price target
• Positive Sentiment: Apple launched Apple Upgrade, a U.S. leasing program powered by Klarna. Customers can lease iPhones, Macs, iPads and Apple Watches through monthly payments, including iPhone plans starting at $17.99. The program could improve affordability, support upgrade frequency and broaden access to Apple’s hardware ecosystem. Apple launches US device leasing program with Klarna
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple’s privacy positioning is receiving favorable attention after users’ seemingly private Claude AI conversations appeared in Google search results. The publicity may reinforce Apple’s privacy brand, although the direct financial impact is unclear. Claude chats exposed in Google searches
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and execution risks are elevated. KeyBanc remains bearish, citing slowing unit and user growth, while Apple’s premium earnings multiple leaves limited room for an earnings or outlook disappointment. Investors will closely watch iPhone demand, Services growth, margins and management commentary during Tim Cook’s final earnings call as CEO. Apple earnings preview
• Negative Sentiment: Rising memory and component costs could pressure hardware margins, particularly if tariffs restrict Apple’s access to lower-cost Chinese suppliers. Separately, a lawsuit alleges that a fraudulent Bitcoin wallet app on the App Store caused about $1.8 million in losses, creating a modest App Store oversight and reputational risk. Memory tariffs and Apple margins

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Ben Borders sold 116 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.14, for a total value of $34,236.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,425,754.82. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $364.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, June 8th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $365.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $327.40.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $340.08 on Wednesday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $308.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $280.18. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $201.50 and a 12 month high of $342.89. The company has a market cap of $4.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.12, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. The business 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.76 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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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