Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Trims Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 132,495 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,330 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 5.6% of Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $33,626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 180 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $69,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $76,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Raymond James Financial set a $380.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, July 20th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $327.40.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong iPhone demand and steady pricing are expected to produce Apple’s strongest June-quarter revenue growth in five years. Analysts are also watching for contributions from Services, Mac, and iPhone 17 shipments. Apple set for strongest June-quarter sales growth in 5 years
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s new Apple Upgrade program, powered by Klarna, lets U.S. customers lease iPhones, Macs, iPads, and Apple Watches through monthly payments. The initiative could lower upfront costs, increase upgrade frequency, and support device sales. Apple launches US device leasing program with Klarna
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group modestly raised its fiscal 2027 EPS forecast to $9.57 from $9.56, above the current-year consensus estimate of $8.76, reinforcing the bullish long-term earnings outlook.
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple’s record valuation reflects investor confidence in its relatively disciplined AI spending and improving product demand, while money has rotated away from Nvidia and other high-spending chip stocks. However, options markets imply a comparatively contained post-earnings move, suggesting much of the optimism may already be priced in. Apple Could Swing $170 Billion In Value After Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Apple faces a leadership transition, with Tim Cook preparing for his final earnings call as CEO and hardware chief John Ternus scheduled to succeed him. Investors will seek evidence that the incoming CEO can sustain growth beyond the iPhone.
• Negative Sentiment: Proposed U.K. App Store rules could loosen Apple’s control over in-app payments and reduce commission revenue; Apple argues the measures amount to price regulation. Apple says UK App Store proposal amounts to price regulation
• Negative Sentiment: A federal lawsuit alleges a fraudulent Bitcoin wallet app remained available in Apple’s App Store, raising potential legal costs and renewed concerns about app-review and platform liability.

Apple Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $338.19 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $201.50 and a 12 month high of $344.57. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $308.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $280.73. The firm has a market cap of $4.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.89, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $111.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.46 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 146.69%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ben Borders sold 116 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.14, for a total value of $34,236.24. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares in the company, valued at $11,425,754.82. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.