Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC

Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,937 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,503 shares during the period. Apple comprises 1.2% of Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC grew its position in Apple by 1,800.0% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $69,000. Finally, 49 Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $11,226,770. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

More Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Market-cap leadership and momentum: Apple reclaimed the title of the world’s largest company as Nvidia shares declined. The move reinforces investor confidence in Apple’s resilient consumer business and has made AAPL a relative outperformer among major technology stocks. Apple ends day as world’s most valuable company, passing Nvidia
• Positive Sentiment: Earnings optimism: Apple reports results on July 30, with analysts expecting continued iPhone demand, Services growth, and potentially strong Mac revenue. Goldman Sachs raised its price target and expects performance above consensus on iPhone and Mac sales, while Bank of America anticipates a Services-driven earnings beat. Goldman Raises Apple Stock Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: Investor positioning: Options activity indicates traders are preparing for a sizable upward move following earnings. The stock has risen about 20% from its late-June low, reflecting elevated expectations for the report and Apple’s product ecosystem. Apple options are doing something unusual into earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Future product catalysts: Apple is reportedly emphasizing privacy as it develops smart glasses for a potential 2027 launch, while investors continue to speculate about a foldable iPhone and incoming CEO John Ternus’s ability to drive the next major product cycle. Apple Puts Privacy at Center of Smart Glasses Push
• Negative Sentiment: AI execution concerns: Investors remain divided over Apple’s comparatively restrained AI spending and strategy, particularly as rivals commit hundreds of billions of dollars to AI infrastructure. A disappointing outlook or evidence that Apple is falling behind could pressure the stock after its strong run. Apple Is Barely Spending on AI
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and component-cost risks: At roughly 41 times earnings, Apple has limited room for an earnings miss. Potential tariffs and higher memory-chip prices could increase iPhone production costs and compress hardware margins, although Apple is reportedly seeking permission to use Chinese memory components in international devices. Apple stock and memory-cost analysis

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Maxim Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target (up from $310.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $375.00 price objective (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. One equities 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $327.40.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $336.91 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.10. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $201.50 and a 52-week high of $339.57. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $307.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $279.61.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released 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. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The firm had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 8.76 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

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.