James J. Burns & Company LLC Grows Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• James J. Burns & Company LLC increased its Apple stake by 1.9% in Q4 to 117,374 shares (about $31.91M), representing roughly 4.4% of its holdings and its fifth-largest position.
• Apple beat Q2 estimates (EPS $2.01 vs. $1.95; revenue $111.18B), issued strong June-quarter guidance and expanded capital returns with a $100B buyback plus a dividend raise, driving analyst price-target upgrades and bullish positioning.
• Notable insider selling occurred—CEO Tim Cook sold 64,949 shares (~$16.5M) and CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares (~$421.9K)—while management warned a worsening memory-chip shortage could pressure near-term margins.

James J. Burns & Company LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 117,374 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 2,221 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 4.4% of James J. Burns & Company LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. James J. Burns & Company LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $31,909,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Isthmus Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 97,177 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 5,808 shares during the period. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 110.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% during the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, 49 Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. 49 Wealth Management LLC now owns 298,920 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 40,543 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results beat and June-quarter guidance well above Street expectations, giving investors confidence in near-term sales momentum and margins. Apple stages sharpest rally in 9 months as execs cite iPhone, Mac demand in boosting guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Management expanded capital returns — a large share buyback ($100B) plus a dividend raise — which supports EPS and buyback-driven upside. Apple (AAPL) Stock: Q2 Earnings Beat ... and $100B Buyback
• Positive Sentiment: Stronger-than-expected demand in Greater China and for the iPhone 17 and Mac lineup (including Mac Mini demand for AI work) is driving top-line upside and a re-rating by some analysts. Apple's China sales jumped 28%: now analysts are rethinking AAPL
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple firms raised price targets and options activity surged, signaling bullish positioning and expectations for further upside. Analyst moves & options flow
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple signaled it is retiring its net-cash-neutral target — investors interpret this as freeing cash for a potential large AI acquisition, but timing and impact remain speculative. Apple just gave a subtle clue that a splashy AI acquisition may be in the cards
• Neutral Sentiment: Media/services expansion — Apple aims to grow its sports/TV footprint (Formula One content and TV deals), which supports longer-term services revenue diversification but is incremental near term. Apple's Cue expects F1 movie sequel...
• Negative Sentiment: Management warned that the global memory-chip shortage is worsening — that creates a real near-term cost/margin headwind and could force pricing or longer-term supplier commitments. Apple Warns the Memory Shortage Is Getting Worse
• Negative Sentiment: Some analysts remain cautious — Wall Street is split on whether the beat is sustainable versus one-time effects (tariff refunds, inventory/timing), leaving valuation and durability questions. Wall Street Splits on Apple After Q2 Beat

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was 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 directly owned 13,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,675,650. This represents a 10.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total value of $16,511,984.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at $833,980,668.14. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 96,485 shares of company stock worth $24,594,845. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $280.19 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.06. 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 stock's 50-day simple moving average is $260.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $265.27. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $193.25 and a twelve month high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The business had revenue of $111.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.65 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 11th. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Apple from $320.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating and issued a $335.00 target price (up from $325.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Apple from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $304.31.

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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