Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Skylands Capital LLC

Skylands Capital LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 97,270 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 10,315 shares during the period. Apple makes up 3.6% of Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $26,444,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AMG National Trust Bank boosted its stake in Apple by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 331,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $90,205,000 after purchasing an additional 32,194 shares during the period. Capital Developers LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $789,000. CFC Planning Co LLC lifted its position in Apple by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. CFC Planning Co LLC now owns 42,924 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,670,000 after buying an additional 4,289 shares in the last quarter. Seek First Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 117,226 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $31,869,000 after buying an additional 1,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boyer Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $665,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on AAPL. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target (up from $330.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $325.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $375.00 price target (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.31.

Apple Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $312.51 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’s 50-day moving average is $274.19 and its 200-day moving average is $269.76. The stock has a market cap of $4.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.79, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.06. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $195.07 and a 52-week high of $313.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $111.18 billion for 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%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current 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 issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. 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 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,675,650. This represents a 10.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total transaction of $16,511,984.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target on Apple to $380 from $330 and kept a Buy rating, saying agentic AI could strengthen Apple’s ecosystem and create meaningful new revenue opportunities.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports say Apple is preparing a major Siri overhaul for WWDC, including a new app-like experience designed to compete more directly with ChatGPT-style assistants, which could improve sentiment around Apple’s AI roadmap.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentary continue to argue that Apple’s installed base, privacy controls, payments, and device ownership give it a strong position if AI assistants become a primary interface for search, commerce, and productivity.
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple’s stock is already near record territory, so some of the optimism around AI and WWDC may already be reflected in the share price.
• Negative Sentiment: Some articles note that Apple is still viewed by parts of the market as an AI laggard versus rivals, and that its valuation is already rich, which could limit upside if WWDC disappoints.

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.