Apple Inc. $AAPL Holdings Lifted by Sterling Investment Counsel LLC

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 16.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 65,301 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 9,414 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 5.0% of Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Isthmus Partners LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 6.4% in the third quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 97,177 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 5,808 shares during the period. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Apple by 110.9% in the third 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 position in Apple by 1,800.0% in the first 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 purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, 49 Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 15.7% in the third 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s latest quarter was a clear beat, with revenue of $111.18 billion and EPS of $2.01 topping expectations, while management also approved a fresh $100 billion buyback and raised the dividend.
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI raised its price target on Apple to $365 from $330 and reiterated an Outperform rating, citing strong Services growth and long-term earnings/free-cash-flow compounding.
• Positive Sentiment: Investor enthusiasm remains elevated around Apple’s AI roadmap, with reports pointing to WWDC as a potential catalyst and broader expectations that Apple can monetize AI through devices and Services.
• Positive Sentiment: China-related headlines may also help sentiment, as Xi Jinping told U.S. CEOs including Tim Cook that China will “open wider,” easing some concerns about Apple’s supply chain and market access.
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple is reportedly exploring new AI-agent support in the App Store and additional iOS features, which could support the ecosystem but are still early-stage product rumors.
• Neutral Sentiment: Security reports about vulnerabilities found in macOS/iOS are a reminder of cyber risks, but they do not yet appear to be a material earnings issue.
• Negative Sentiment: OpenAI is reportedly considering legal action against Apple over their ChatGPT partnership, raising the risk of a public dispute around Apple’s AI strategy.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling and a reported Foxconn ransomware incident may slightly temper sentiment, though neither looks large enough to outweigh the bullish earnings and analyst upgrades.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $253.00 price objective (up from $248.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Moffett Nathanson lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $241.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, KGI Securities upgraded shares of Apple to an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price objective on the stock in a research note 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $308.74.

Apple Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $298.21 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $4.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.06. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $193.46 and a fifty-two week high of $300.92. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $264.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $267.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.65 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. 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 yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 13.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $421,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,366 shares in the company, valued at $3,675,650. The trade was 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 available at this link. Also, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total transaction of $369,460.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,226,770. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 97,759 shares of company stock worth $24,964,305 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.