VCI Wealth Management LLC Buys 6,421 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

VCI Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 60,761 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,421 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 4.6% of VCI Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. VCI Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $16,518,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Isthmus Partners LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 5,808 shares during the last quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 71 shares during the period. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, 49 Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 40,543 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Down 0.2%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $298.21 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $264.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $267.25. The company has a market capitalization of $4.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.06, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.06. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $193.46 and a 1-year high of $300.92.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $111.18 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. This is an increase 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%.

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.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $421,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total transaction of $16,511,984.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $833,980,668.14. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 97,759 shares of company stock worth $24,964,305. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Apple from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $365.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Apple from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 1st. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Moffett Nathanson increased their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $308.74.

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.