Seizert Capital Partners LLC Sells 5,956 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Seizert Capital Partners LLC lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 16.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,124 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 5,956 shares during the quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,925,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 333.3% during the second quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 41.0% in the 2nd quarter. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC now owns 430 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $99,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $255.78 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $288.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $266.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $256.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.17. Apple had a return on equity of 159.94% and a net margin of 27.04%.The business had revenue of $143.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.15%.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong iPhone momentum and quarter results — iPhone 17 sales and overall revenue remained robust, supporting fundamentals and cushioning the pullback. Zacks: Strong iPhone Sales
• Positive Sentiment: Legal victory removes a potential multi?hundred?million dollar liability — a U.S. jury rejected Optis Wireless’ 4G patent claims, reducing near-term litigation risk. Benzinga: Optis Verdict
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support — Sanford C. Bernstein raised its price target, reflecting confidence in Apple’s growth trajectory and giving investors a bullish reference point. Bernstein PT Raise
• Neutral Sentiment: Content and services moves — Apple acquired full rights to the hit show “Severance” and added YouTube to Vision Pro, which are strategically positive for services but unlikely to move near?term earnings materially. TechCrunch: Severance Deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Major shareholder cash flow note — Berkshire Hathaway received a large Apple dividend, underscoring Apple’s cash returns but also spotlighting Berkshire’s large position dynamics. Finbold: Berkshire Dividend
• Negative Sentiment: Siri AI upgrade delays and testing problems — reports that the Siri overhaul is running into accuracy and speed problems forced Apple to push features back, directly hitting the AI narrative investors were pricing in. CNBC: Siri Delay / Market Reaction
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk from FTC letter over Apple News — the FTC chair urged review of Apple News curation amid accusations of political bias, adding regulatory/legal uncertainty and headline risk. NYT: FTC Letter
• Negative Sentiment: Fund flow and institutional trimming amid sector pressure — several funds reduced Apple exposure and broader “Magnificent Seven” weakness amplified the selloff, raising short?term downside pressure. Barron’s: Institutional Moves

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. KGI Securities upgraded shares of Apple to an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. Maxim Group upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $276.47 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Melius Research set a $345.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, DZ Bank raised Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.13.

Apple 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.