Davies Financial Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Davies Financial Advisors cut its Apple stake by 59.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 17,645 shares and ending with 12,234 shares valued at about $3.33 million.
• Despite that reduction, institutional ownership remains high, with 67.73% of Apple’s stock held by institutional investors; several other funds also increased their Apple positions during the period.
• Apple continues to draw bullish analyst support after strong earnings, with multiple firms raising targets and MarketBeat showing a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $308.74.

Davies Financial Advisors Inc. reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 59.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,234 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 17,645 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 6.2% of Davies Financial Advisors Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Davies Financial Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $3,326,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Overbrook Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 57.4% in 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 period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 48.4% in 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 period. Tufton Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.3% in 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 period. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,044,697 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,915,172,000 after purchasing an additional 214,215 shares during the period. Finally, Montis Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 15.8% in the third quarter. Montis Financial LLC now owns 77,919 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $19,841,000 after purchasing an additional 10,640 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $365.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $310.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 1st. Phillip Securities raised shares of Apple from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, February 1st. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Apple from $320.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $308.74.

Apple News Roundup

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 Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $300.23 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $265.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $267.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $193.46 and a 12-month high of $303.20. The firm has a market cap of $4.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.30, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.06.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at $833,980,668.14. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $421,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,675,650. The trade was a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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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