Formidable Asset Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Formidable Asset Management trimmed its stake in Apple by 3.4% in Q4, selling 6,941 shares and holding 196,091 shares worth about $49.93 million, which represents roughly 7.3% of the fund’s portfolio and remains its largest position.
• Sizable insider sales occurred on April 2: SVP Deirdre O'Brien sold 30,002 shares and CEO Tim Cook sold 64,949 shares under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, while insider ownership of Apple is only about 0.06%.
• Analyst and market context: Apple recently beat quarterly EPS and revenue expectations with revenue up 15.7%, has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” and a $301.37 average price target, and a market cap near $3.87 trillion.

Formidable Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 196,091 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 6,941 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 7.3% of Formidable Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Formidable Asset Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $49,931,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the third quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 9,898 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,520,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC now owns 12,326 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,351,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. American Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. American Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 1,151 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Capstone Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,537 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,174,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Seven Springs Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Seven Springs Wealth Group LLC now owns 15,451 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,934,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and price-target upgrades lift the outlook for future earnings and sentiment — Bank of America raised its Apple price target, signaling conviction among some sell‑side desks that Apple’s long-term cash-flow profile remains attractive. Bank of America Increases Apple Price Target to $325
• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp recently raised Q2/Q4 and FY2027 EPS forecasts for Apple, which supports near‑term earnings expectations and offsets valuation concerns. (Research-note summary)
• Positive Sentiment: High-profile bullish commentary from TV/influencers (Jim Cramer) is reinforcing investor confidence and likely contributed to buying interest in options and shares. Jim Cramer Reveals Why Apple (AAPL) Stock is Worth it
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple is pushing Siri teams to adopt AI coding tools and is clearly ramping internal AI development efforts — positive for product roadmap but timing and revenue impact remain uncertain. Apple Pushes Siri Programmers to Adopt AI Coding Tools
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually heavy call‑option activity shows elevated bullish positioning, which can amplify moves both up and down; this is a market‑sentiment signal rather than a change in fundamentals. (Options volume report)
• Negative Sentiment: TSMC’s blowout results (record margins and profits driven by AI chip demand) were interpreted negatively for Apple today — investors see TSMC less dependent on Apple and view stronger AI-centric capex at chipmakers as a reminder that competition and supply dynamics are shifting in ways that could pressure margins or bargaining leverage. TSMC’s Results Weren’t a Great Sign for Apple
• Negative Sentiment: New litigation alleging Apple Pay failed to prevent rapid gambling transactions introduces legal and compliance risk for Apple’s payment services, which could pressure services valuation if exposures grow. Apple Lawsuit Puts Apple Pay Controls And Services Valuation In Focus

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 30,002 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.35, for a total value of $7,661,010.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,934,433.50. The trade was a 17.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total value of $16,511,984.27. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at $833,980,668.14. This trade 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. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Jefferies Financial Group set a $330.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, March 27th. KGI Securities raised shares of Apple to an "outperform" rating and set a $306.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $301.37.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $263.40 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $189.81 and a one year high of $288.62. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $259.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $263.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.30, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

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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