Stephens Inc. AR Sells 20,853 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Stephens Inc. AR lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 816,725 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 20,853 shares during the period. Apple comprises 2.6% of Stephens Inc. AR’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Apple were worth $207,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 9,898 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,520,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC now owns 12,326 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,351,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Interactive Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in Apple by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Interactive Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,051 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 2.0% during the first quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC now owns 2,029 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $515,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orion Investment Co lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Orion Investment Co now owns 14,354 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,902,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Ben Borders sold 116 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.14, for a total value of $34,236.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,425,754.82. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 firm’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 sold 2,924 shares of company stock valued at $825,546 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, June 5th. KeyCorp lowered Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $250.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 target price (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $335.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $318.43.

More Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: HSBC upgraded Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) to Buy and raised its price target to $366 from $260, saying the company is at an operational turning point with AI features and hardware momentum supporting growth. HSBC upgrades Apple to Buy, sees “strong cycle ahead”
• Positive Sentiment: China approved Apple Intelligence for iPhones, and Apple will integrate Alibaba’s Qwen AI model in its China rollout, a key step that could expand Apple’s AI adoption in one of its most important markets. Alibaba and Baidu shares jump in Hong Kong on Apple AI partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports say Apple briefly overtook Nvidia in market value, reinforcing the view that investors are rotating toward Apple’s consumer execution and away from some AI-heavy names. Apple closes in on Nvidia in race for world’s most valuable company
• Positive Sentiment: Several commentaries highlighted Apple’s cash generation, shareholder returns, and robotics/innovation efforts, supporting the bullish “cash flow machine” and diversification narrative. Apple’s Core Business Cash Flow Machine Will Support Innovation and Diversification

Apple Trading Up 0.1%

Apple stock opened at $333.74 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $201.50 and a 52 week high of $334.99. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $4.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.36, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $303.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $277.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $109.46 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.65 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.06%.

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.