Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Greenwood Capital Associates LLC

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 141,056 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 5,937 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 3.9% of Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $35,799,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $52,266,468,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $17,472,482,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its stake in Apple by 890.7% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 41,984,810 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,413,990,000 after acquiring an additional 37,746,784 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 20,464.8% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,069,029 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,553,753,000 after acquiring an additional 26,937,401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $387,749,545,000 after acquiring an additional 26,856,752 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $327.74 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 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 12-month low of $201.50 and a 12-month high of $334.99. The business’s 50 day moving average is $304.95 and its 200-day moving average is $277.89.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.46 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 146.69%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 8.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.27 dividend. 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 yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 13.06%.

Apple News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple is reportedly launching a new device leasing program with Klarna, a major change to how it sells hardware that could support upgrade demand and recurring device sales. Reuters: Apple to launch ‘Upgrade’ device leasing program to spur sales, Bloomberg News reports
• Positive Sentiment: HSBC upgraded Apple, saying it is entering a powerful new upgrade cycle supported by AI and a strong hardware roadmap. Barchart: HSBC Says Apple Is Entering a Powerful New Upgrade Cycle
• Positive Sentiment: Several commentators highlighted Apple’s pricing power, strong installed base, and relative insulation from the AI capex arms race as reasons investors are favoring AAPL over some other mega-cap tech names. MarketBeat: Apple Stock Sends Major Warning Signal as Momentum Hits Peak

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $365.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $375.00 target price (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, May 14th. HSBC raised shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $260.00 to $366.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $325.71.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $421,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,675,650. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total transaction of $369,460.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 38,713 shares in the company, valued at $11,226,770. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,924 shares of company stock valued at $825,546. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.