Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by SFE Investment Counsel

SFE Investment Counsel decreased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 86,997 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 6,302 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 3.6% of SFE Investment Counsel’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in Apple were worth $23,651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proactive Wealth Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Proactive Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 23,545 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,401,000 after acquiring an additional 2,360 shares in the last quarter. BG Investment Services LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. BG Investment Services LLC now owns 7,980 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,169,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Rayburn West Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $3,788,000. Crosspoint Financial LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 111.1% in the 4th quarter. Crosspoint Financial LLC now owns 1,927 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $524,000 after buying an additional 1,014 shares during the period. Finally, Muhlenkamp & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Muhlenkamp & Co. Inc. now owns 62,841 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $17,084,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 12th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 price target (up from $325.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target (up from $350.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 8th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $312.82.

More Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are looking for WWDC to showcase a major Siri overhaul and new AI features, which could help justify a higher valuation if Apple demonstrates stronger product momentum. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s App Store generated more than $1.4 trillion in developer sales and billings last year, reinforcing the scale and stickiness of its Services ecosystem. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Apple’s AI roadmap and ecosystem strength, with several price-target hikes and Buy calls suggesting upside if the company executes at WWDC. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple approved Poke as the first AI agent on its Messages for Business platform, showing early AI adoption inside its messaging ecosystem, but the near-term financial impact appears limited. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Apple may use Google cloud servers and Nvidia chips to help power Siri signal a faster AI rollout, though they also highlight Apple’s reliance on outside infrastructure. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: UBS warned that App Store growth is decelerating, which matters because App Store revenue is a key driver of Apple’s high-margin Services segment. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Apple agreed to submit India financials in a long-running antitrust case, keeping regulatory risk in focus as authorities move closer to a penalty decision. Article Title

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,675,650. The trade was a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $311.24 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.63, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a fifty day moving average of $280.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $271.11. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $195.07 and a 52-week high of $316.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.46 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The business’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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