North Star Asset Management Inc. Reduces Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

North Star Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 354,142 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 7,853 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 3.9% of North Star Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $96,277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accent Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 95,460 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $25,952,000 after purchasing an additional 663 shares in the last quarter. Darden Wealth Group Inc raised its holdings in Apple by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Darden Wealth Group Inc now owns 34,876 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,482,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Clune & Associates LTD. raised its holdings in Apple by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Clune & Associates LTD. now owns 33,389 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,077,000 after purchasing an additional 5,806 shares in the last quarter. Tiff Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Tiff Advisory Services LLC now owns 174,002 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $47,304,000 after purchasing an additional 18,273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 636,854 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $173,135,000 after purchasing an additional 37,900 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

More Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s WWDC keynote is expected to highlight a revamped Siri, Apple Intelligence updates, and a broader AI strategy, which could act as a near-term catalyst if the company shows meaningful progress. Will WWDC Drive Apple Stock (AAPL) Higher? Here’s What Analysts Expect
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive, with Citi reiterating a Buy and Wedbush reaffirming Outperform with a $400 target, citing Apple’s AI inflection point and resilient iPhone fundamentals. Asiya Merchant Reiterates Buy on Apple, Citing AI Strategy Inflection and Resilient iPhone Fundamentals
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s App Store update showed $1.4 trillion in sales and billings last year, reinforcing the scale of its Services ecosystem even as most transactions did not carry a commission. Apple touts $1.4 trillion in App Store billings and sales, 90% without a commission
• Positive Sentiment: Foxconn raised its second-quarter outlook, a constructive signal for Apple’s supply chain and iPhone demand, since Foxconn is Apple’s top iPhone assembler. Taiwan’s Foxconn raises guidance for second-quarter outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Apple may rely on Google cloud infrastructure and Nvidia chips to power a redesigned Siri suggest the company is prioritizing speed to market, but they also underscore that Apple is leaning on outside partners for its AI push. Apple Taps Google to Prep Siri For September Revamp
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage warns that Apple still faces a high bar to justify its valuation, and UBS noted decelerating App Store growth could pressure the Services growth story if AI execution disappoints. Investors Should Worry About Apple’s (AAPL) Decelerating App Store Growth, Says UBS

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, June 1st. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $365.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, May 14th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 1st. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $330.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. One 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $312.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at $833,980,668.14. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 30,002 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.35, for a total value of $7,661,010.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,934,433.50. The trade was a 17.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 97,759 shares of company stock worth $24,964,305 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 1.2%

Apple stock opened at $307.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market cap of $4.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $195.07 and a 1 year high of $316.94. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $281.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $271.37.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $111.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 146.69%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This is an increase 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%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.