Donaldson Capital Management LLC Sells 3,186 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Donaldson Capital Management trimmed its Apple stake by 0.6%, selling 3,186 shares and leaving it with 565,368 shares worth $153.7 million, which represents 4.9% of the fund and is its third-largest holding.
• Insider selling occurred on April 2: CEO Tim Cook sold 64,949 shares (~$16.5M) and SVP Deirdre O’Brien sold 30,002 shares (~$7.66M), both under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans.
• Apple reported a strong quarter—EPS $2.84 vs. $2.67 expected and revenue $143.76B, up 15.7% year-over-year—and the stock carries a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with a $301.23 average price target.

Donaldson Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 565,368 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 3,186 shares during the period. Apple comprises 4.9% of Donaldson Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Donaldson Capital Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $153,701,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Apple by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 77,037 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $20,943,000 after purchasing an additional 2,512 shares in the last quarter. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. grew its position in Apple by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. now owns 8,318 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,261,000 after purchasing an additional 1,177 shares in the last quarter. Praetorian Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Apple by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Praetorian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 18,281 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104 shares in the last quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC now owns 12,326 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,351,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, One Wealth Management Investment & Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Apple by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. One Wealth Management Investment & Advisory Services LLC now owns 49,167 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $13,367,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Moffett Nathanson upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $241.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $325.00 to $320.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $301.23.

Apple Stock Up 0.6%

Apple stock opened at $260.49 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $183.00 and a twelve month high of $288.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $260.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $263.70. The company has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.17. Apple had a net margin of 27.04% and a return on equity of 159.94%. The firm had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $138.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. The company's revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 13.15%.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong core demand and earnings setup — analysts and previews point to robust iPhone demand heading into Q2 after Apple’s recent upside quarter, supporting revenue and margin expectations. Apple Q2 Earnings Preview
• Positive Sentiment: Wall‑Street support — Wedbush and other analysts are reiterating bullish themes (AI positioning, strong margins, sticky services ecosystem), which underpins investor confidence in AAPL as a long‑term growth story. Wedbush: Latest 'Victory' for Apple Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Investor positioning and options flow look bullish — unusual options activity and renewed retail/institutional buying in the Magnificent Seven are supporting the stock’s rebound. Unusual Activity in Apple Options
• Positive Sentiment: Product demand signals — reports show iPhone 17 sales outpacing prior models and Mac lead times lengthening, suggesting continued hardware revenue strength. iPhone Sales Continue to Surge
• Neutral Sentiment: AI/cybersecurity partnerships could bring strategic upside but are longer‑term — Anthropic’s Mythos and industry collaborations (including Apple testing) highlight both risk mitigation and potential platform benefits. Anthropic's Mythos Raises Questions
• Neutral Sentiment: tvOS security ecosystem expands — third‑party vendor DoveRunner released enterprise runtime protection for Apple TV apps; small operational relevance for Apple but positive for platform security. DoveRunner Extends App Protection to Apple TV
• Negative Sentiment: Foldable iPhone uncertainty fuels volatility — reports of engineering setbacks and leaked dummies earlier triggered a pullback; mixed follow‑ups (some say still on schedule) leave timing and margin impact unclear. Apple Shares Plunge on Foldable Reports
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling alert — filings show senior executives sold stock (~$24.2M disclosed), which can concern some investors despite being modest vs. Apple’s market cap. Monster Insider Trading Alert

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at $833,980,668.14. This represents a 1.94% 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, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 30,002 shares of the 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 transaction, 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 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. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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