Praxis Capital Management LLC Takes $861,000 Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Praxis Capital Management opened a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter, buying 3,166 shares valued at about $861,000. Apple now represents roughly 3.1% of the firm’s portfolio and is its 8th-largest holding.
• Apple continues to attract major institutional interest, with large investors like Vanguard, Northern Trust, Norges Bank, and Nuveen adding or maintaining sizable stakes. Overall, institutional investors own about 67.73% of Apple shares.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on Apple, with analysts holding a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $312.82. Recent attention centers on Apple’s AI plans, upcoming WWDC updates, and strong recent earnings and dividend growth.

Praxis Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,166 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $861,000. Apple makes up about 3.1% of Praxis Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $38,942,255,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter valued at $17,472,482,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 20,464.8% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,069,029 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,553,753,000 after purchasing an additional 26,937,401 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $387,749,545,000 after purchasing an additional 26,856,752 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

More Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s WWDC keynote is expected to highlight a revamped Siri, Apple Intelligence updates, and a broader AI strategy, which could act as a near-term catalyst if the company shows meaningful progress. Will WWDC Drive Apple Stock (AAPL) Higher? Here’s What Analysts Expect
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive, with Citi reiterating a Buy and Wedbush reaffirming Outperform with a $400 target, citing Apple’s AI inflection point and resilient iPhone fundamentals. Asiya Merchant Reiterates Buy on Apple, Citing AI Strategy Inflection and Resilient iPhone Fundamentals
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s App Store update showed $1.4 trillion in sales and billings last year, reinforcing the scale of its Services ecosystem even as most transactions did not carry a commission. Apple touts $1.4 trillion in App Store billings and sales, 90% without a commission
• Positive Sentiment: Foxconn raised its second-quarter outlook, a constructive signal for Apple’s supply chain and iPhone demand, since Foxconn is Apple’s top iPhone assembler. Taiwan's Foxconn raises guidance for second-quarter outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Apple may rely on Google cloud infrastructure and Nvidia chips to power a redesigned Siri suggest the company is prioritizing speed to market, but they also underscore that Apple is leaning on outside partners for its AI push. Apple Taps Google to Prep Siri For September Revamp
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage warns that Apple still faces a high bar to justify its valuation, and UBS noted decelerating App Store growth could pressure the Services growth story if AI execution disappoints. Investors Should Worry About Apple’s (AAPL) Decelerating App Store Growth, Says UBS

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $330.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, June 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $312.82.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $833,980,668.14. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 30,002 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 owned 136,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,934,433.50. This trade represents a 17.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 97,759 shares of company stock worth $24,964,305. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $307.34 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $195.07 and a fifty-two week high of $316.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.16, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $281.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $271.39.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.06%.

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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