Latitude Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Latitude Advisors LLC cut its Apple stake by 13.7% in the first quarter, selling 1,641 shares and ending with 10,301 shares valued at about $2.61 million.
• Despite mixed insider activity and some recent share reductions by other funds, institutional ownership remains heavy, with hedge funds and other institutions holding 67.73% of Apple’s stock.
• Wall Street sentiment remains broadly positive: analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus on Apple with a $318.43 target, while the stock was trading near its 52-week high after a strong earnings report and a higher quarterly dividend.

Latitude Advisors LLC reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 13.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,301 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,641 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 1.2% of Latitude Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Latitude Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $2,614,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $65,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $69,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $76,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. UBS Group set a $250.00 price target on Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $276.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $318.43.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Ben Borders sold 116 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.14, for a total transaction of $34,236.24. Following the sale, the insider owned 38,713 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,425,754.82. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $421,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,675,650. The trade was a 10.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 2,924 shares of company stock valued at $825,546 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: China approved Apple Intelligence for iPhones, clearing a major hurdle for Apple’s delayed AI rollout in its biggest international market. Reports also say Alibaba’s Qwen and Baidu models will help power the experience, which should support Apple’s AI adoption story. Alibaba and Baidu shares jump in Hong Kong on Apple AI partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Several market commentators say Apple is benefiting from a “standard oil” style strategy: keep monetizing a massive installed base through hardware, services, and selective ecosystem expansion rather than chasing capital-intensive AI infrastructure. That narrative is helping justify the stock’s record highs. Why Apple's 'Standard Oil' Strategy Is Driving the Stock to All-Time Highs
• Positive Sentiment: Warren Buffett reiterated that Apple remains one of Berkshire Hathaway’s favorite holdings, easing some investor concern about the planned CEO transition from Tim Cook. Warren Buffett Just Reaffirmed Apple as One of His Favorite Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: KeyCorp raised earnings estimates for Apple for several future periods, but kept an Underweight rating and a $250 price target, signaling improving fundamentals while still warning that valuation is rich. Apple Inc. research notes and analyst updates
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple is reportedly exploring acquisitions of chip startups to strengthen its AI server and custom silicon efforts. That could help long-term competitiveness, but the impact is still speculative. Apple chasing AI chip company deals, The Information reports
• Negative Sentiment: Some reports say Apple’s iPhone manufacturing costs are rising because of higher component prices, and that could pressure margins if Apple can’t fully offset those costs with pricing or mix improvements. Apple's New iPhone Is Going to Cost Significantly More Than Last Year
• Negative Sentiment: Apple is also facing scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers over its China memory-chip sourcing plans, adding a political and supply-chain overhang to the AI and hardware story. AAPL's China Memory Chip Plans Draw National Security Scrutiny

Apple Trading Up 1.8%

AAPL stock opened at $333.26 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $201.50 and a 12-month high of $334.68. The business's 50-day moving average is $302.80 and its 200 day moving average is $276.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $4.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.30, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $109.46 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The business's revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 8.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.3%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.06%.

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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