Iams Wealth Management LLC Trims Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Iams Wealth Management trimmed its Apple stake by 21.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 5,005 shares and leaving it with 18,041 shares valued at about $4.9 million.
• Apple’s latest quarterly results were strong, with EPS of $2.01 and revenue of $111.18 billion, both topping Wall Street estimates and showing 16.6% year-over-year revenue growth.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish on Apple, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $305.74; the company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.27 per share.

Iams Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 21.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,041 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 5,005 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 1.8% of Iams Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Iams Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $4,905,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. O Connor Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 4,319 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,071,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Berkeley Inc boosted its stake in Apple by 196.6% in the fourth quarter. Berkeley Inc now owns 7,761 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,110,000 after acquiring an additional 5,144 shares during the last quarter. Sightline Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 71.1% in the fourth quarter. Sightline Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,456 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,755,000 after acquiring an additional 2,683 shares during the last quarter. Argo Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,424,000. Finally, Draper Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 40.8% in the fourth quarter. Draper Asset Management LLC now owns 125,005 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $33,984,000 after purchasing an additional 36,223 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Apple from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $330.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 1st. KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, KGI Securities upgraded shares of Apple to an "outperform" rating and set a $306.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $305.74.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $421,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,675,650. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 approximately $833,980,668.14. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 96,485 shares of company stock valued at $24,594,845. Corporate 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 latest earnings showed record-like strength, with revenue and EPS beating estimates and iPhone sales surging, reinforcing confidence in the company’s core business and margin profile.
• Positive Sentiment: Apple is being viewed more favorably on AI and product innovation, with analysts and commentators highlighting a coming WWDC catalyst, deeper AI integration, and potential new growth from wearables, Vision products, and smart glasses.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Apple may use Intel for some chip production could be seen as strategically positive because it reduces reliance on a single supplier and may improve long-term supply-chain resilience. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s pricing power remains intact, as it reportedly raised the Mac mini’s starting price while still seeing strong demand and backorders, suggesting healthy interest in its hardware lineup.
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple will pay its quarterly dividend today, which supports the stock’s income appeal but is not likely a major near-term share-price driver.
• Negative Sentiment: Director Arthur Levinson’s $71 million stock sale may temper enthusiasm a bit, since insider selling near highs can signal management caution or profit-taking.
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage warns that Apple’s stock may be getting stretched after its run-up, and rising component costs could pressure future margins if consumer hardware pricing becomes harder to manage.

Apple Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $292.68 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $193.46 and a 12 month high of $294.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $262.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $266.47. The firm has a market cap of $4.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.39, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.06.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $111.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 146.69%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 11th. Apple's payout ratio is 12.58%.

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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