Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 6,121 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Meritage Portfolio Management decreased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 328,546 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 6,121 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 5.9% of Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $89,319,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 9,898 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,520,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC now owns 12,326 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,351,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. American Alpha Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. American Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 1,151 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Seven Springs Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Seven Springs Wealth Group LLC now owns 15,451 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,934,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avant Capital LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Avant Capital LLC now owns 4,814 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,226,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s post-earnings rally continues after the company posted record quarterly revenue and EPS, boosted its dividend, and authorized a fresh $100 billion buyback. Analysts say the results support further upside and have raised price targets. Apple Stock Hits All-Time High as Post-Earnings Rally Continues
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI lifted its price target on Apple to $365 and said a bull-case scenario could reach $500, citing compounding growth from Services and Apple’s ability to keep expanding free cash flow. Evercore ISI Hikes Apple Price Target to $365
• Positive Sentiment: Investor sentiment is being helped by reports that iPhone demand remains strong globally, plus Soros Fund Management reportedly boosted its Apple position during the quarter. George Soros’s fund buys Berkshire Hathaway stock — now that Buffett is gone
• Positive Sentiment: Apple reportedly cut iPhone 17 prices in China ahead of the 618 shopping festival, which could help support unit sales in a key market. Apple Cuts iPhone 17 Prices in China
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI is considering legal action over its strained ChatGPT partnership with Apple, which adds uncertainty around Apple’s AI strategy and could weigh on sentiment if the dispute escalates. OpenAI explores legal options against Apple
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Anthropic’s Mythos AI found vulnerabilities in Apple’s macOS/iOS are a reminder of ongoing security scrutiny, but the news is more reputational than fundamentally financial for now. Anthropic’s Mythos Helped Find Bugs in Apple’s Desktop Operating System

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Apple from $268.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $375.00 price target (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group set a $330.00 price target on Apple in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $330.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $253.00 price target (up from $248.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $308.74.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $300.23 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $193.46 and a fifty-two week high of $303.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $265.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $267.47.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.65 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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 given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 13.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $421,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,675,650. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total value of $369,460.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares in the company, valued at $11,226,770. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 97,759 shares of company stock worth $24,964,305 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.