Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Has $43.40 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 149,990 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,750 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 5.7% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $43,401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. EMC Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at $415,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 1.6% in the second quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 590,605 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $170,897,000 after acquiring an additional 9,401 shares during the last quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 156,028 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $45,148,000 after acquiring an additional 2,141 shares during the period. Elgethun Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Apple by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Elgethun Capital Management now owns 16,182 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,682,000 after purchasing an additional 1,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waterloo Capital L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 16.2% in the 2nd quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 143,351 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $41,480,000 after purchasing an additional 20,031 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s Sept. 9 product event is generating significant interest under new CEO John Ternus, with expectations for new iPhones, an Apple Watch update and potentially the company’s first foldable iPhone. Citi estimates the foldable device could sell 7.3 million units despite a possible price above $2,000. Citi foldable iPhone sales forecast
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s latest quarter showed strong momentum, with revenue rising 16.4% year over year and earnings exceeding analyst expectations. Morgan Stanley has also suggested the foldable iPhone could contribute roughly $14 billion in December-quarter revenue if successfully launched. Morgan Stanley foldable iPhone estimate
• Neutral Sentiment: John Ternus has succeeded Tim Cook as CEO, while Cook remains executive chairman. The transition offers continuity through a longtime Apple executive but raises questions about whether Ternus can accelerate Apple’s artificial-intelligence strategy and sustain Cook-era growth. John Ternus becomes Apple CEO
• Negative Sentiment: Reports indicate initial foldable iPhone production was only a few hundred units per day in late August. Tight quality controls and memory shortages could limit launch supply, delay purchases and prevent Apple from fully capturing expected demand. Foldable iPhone production hurdles
• Negative Sentiment: Memory costs have reportedly surged, potentially forcing Apple to raise iPhone prices, absorb lower margins or risk weaker demand. Jefferies has also downgraded AAPL amid skepticism about the foldable product’s market potential. iPhone memory cost concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Apple faces a $2.7 billion UK lawsuit over alleged unfair app-tracking rules and a separate BASF patent lawsuit involving facial-authentication technology, adding regulatory and litigation risk. Apple UK app-tracking lawsuit

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 31st. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $365.00 price target on Apple in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $375.00 price target (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $330.61.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $319.97 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.69, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $315.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $290.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $225.95 and a 1-year high of $344.57.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $109.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 135.46% and a net margin of 27.62%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.57 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.39%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Ben Borders sold 116 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 38,713 shares in the company, valued at $11,425,754.82. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, SVP Jennifer Newstead sold 1,439 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.01, for a total transaction of $456,177.39. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 35,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,345,787.90. The trade was a 3.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,872 shares of company stock worth $1,823,201. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.