Apple Inc. $AAPL is BankPlus Trust Department’s 3rd Largest Position

BankPlus Trust Department reduced its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 45,542 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,727 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 3.2% of BankPlus Trust Department’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. BankPlus Trust Department’s holdings in Apple were worth $12,381,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in Apple by 110.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its position in Apple by 1,800.0% during the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $65,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its position in Apple by 52.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 365 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, eCIO Inc. purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $112,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

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 at Apple

In other news, 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 value of $16,511,984.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at $833,980,668.14. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total transaction of $369,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,226,770. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $330.00 target price (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 1st. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, April 17th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $330.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $308.74.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $298.21 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $264.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $267.25. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $193.46 and a 52 week high of $300.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.06. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 146.69%. 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 previous year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.27 dividend. 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 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. 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.