Sageworth Trust Co of South Dakota Invests $448,000 in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Sageworth Trust Co of South Dakota acquired a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,766 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $448,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. WESPAC Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC now owns 12,326 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,351,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Interactive Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Interactive Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,051 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC now owns 2,029 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $515,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Investment Co grew its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Orion Investment Co now owns 14,354 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,902,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $327.74 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $201.50 and a 12-month high of $334.99. The stock has a market cap of $4.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day moving average of $304.95 and a 200-day moving average of $277.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results 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 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 13.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 price objective on Apple in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 target price (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, July 13th. Maxim Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price target (up from $310.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. One 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $325.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total transaction of $369,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 38,713 shares in the company, valued at $11,226,770. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 2,924 shares of company stock worth $825,546 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple is reportedly launching a new device leasing program with Klarna, a major change to how it sells hardware that could support upgrade demand and recurring device sales. Reuters: Apple to launch ‘Upgrade’ device leasing program to spur sales, Bloomberg News reports
• Positive Sentiment: HSBC upgraded Apple, saying it is entering a powerful new upgrade cycle supported by AI and a strong hardware roadmap. Barchart: HSBC Says Apple Is Entering a Powerful New Upgrade Cycle
• Positive Sentiment: Several commentators highlighted Apple’s pricing power, strong installed base, and relative insulation from the AI capex arms race as reasons investors are favoring AAPL over some other mega-cap tech names. MarketBeat: Apple Stock Sends Major Warning Signal as Momentum Hits Peak

Apple Company 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.