Krilogy Financial LLC Cuts Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Krilogy Financial LLC lessened its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 248,672 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 13,203 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 2.2% of Krilogy Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Krilogy Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $63,513,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 110.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% in the 1st 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 last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in shares of Apple by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 365 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $99,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, eCIO Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $112,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Apple from $268.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective (up from $350.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Stephens set a $315.00 price objective on Apple in a research report on Monday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Apple from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $308.74.

Apple Trading Down 0.2%

Apple stock 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $264.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $267.25. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $193.46 and a 12 month high of $300.92. The company has a market capitalization of $4.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.06.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $111.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict 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 is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 13.06%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,675,650. This represents a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. This 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 97,759 shares of company stock worth $24,964,305. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

More Apple News

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.

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.