Shikiar Asset Management Inc. Sells 2,439 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Shikiar Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 273,764 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,439 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 18.5% of Shikiar Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Shikiar Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $74,425,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Isthmus Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 grew its holdings in Apple by 110.9% during the third quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring 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 worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Finally, 49 Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. 49 Wealth Management LLC now owns 298,920 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 40,543 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Maxim Group upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $330.00 price target on Apple in a report on Monday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $303.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total transaction of $16,511,984.27. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 30,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.35, for a total value of $7,661,010.70. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,810 shares in the company, valued at $34,934,433.50. The trade was a 17.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 96,485 shares of company stock valued at $24,594,845 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $267.50 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $193.25 and a one year high of $288.62. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $260.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $264.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $143.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $138.25 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.04% and a return on equity of 159.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 13.15%.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Company guidance and margin outlook remain constructive — Wall Street previews show Apple expecting ~13%–16% revenue growth and healthy gross margins for fiscal Q2, which supports the case for another beat when results arrive. Should You Buy, Sell, or Hold AAPL Stock Before Q2 Earnings?
• Positive Sentiment: iPhone momentum and supply-chain moves are boosting market share — reports note Apple claimed the top global smartphone spot in the March quarter, providing revenue upside and evidence the hardware cycle isn’t dead. Apple is defying a global smartphone slump
• Neutral Sentiment: Leadership change is front‑and‑center — John Ternus will become CEO in September; investors are parsing his product-first background and focus on services/AI as both an opportunity and a source of near-term uncertainty. Execution under new leadership will matter for sentiment but is a longer-term story. John Ternus, Apple’s new CEO, inherits a rebounding China business—and some messy headaches
• Neutral Sentiment: Big Tech earnings week and AI monetization themes raise expectations — analysts expect AI to drive cloud/ad/product revenue; that raises the bar for Apple to show credible AI product/monetization progress. Big Tech faces key earnings test on AI spending and cloud growth
• Negative Sentiment: Competitor moves (Qualcomm + OpenAI) spooked investors — reports that OpenAI is working with Qualcomm/MediaTek on AI-first smartphone chips lifted Qualcomm and raised fears Apple could lose an edge if it doesn’t move faster on on‑device AI. That rotation into chipmakers pressured AAPL sentiment today. Could This New AI Smartphone Compete With Apple? Qualcomm Shares Rise
• Negative Sentiment: Mounting narrative that Apple is lagging on AI execution — commentary and analyst pieces arguing Apple needs an AI breakthrough (and could be slow to integrate third‑party innovations) are feeding investor caution ahead of earnings. Apple Is Falling Behind in AI. Will a New CEO Revive Apple Stock?

About Apple

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.