Apple Inc. $AAPL is First Merchants Corp’s 9th Largest Position

First Merchants Corp lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 201,048 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,430 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 1.9% of First Merchants Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Apple were worth $51,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 1,800.0% in the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $69,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $284.29 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 simple moving average is $292.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $273.20. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $199.26 and a twelve month high of $317.40. The firm has a market cap of $4.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.46 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 a boost 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 13.06%.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts and traders see the recent decline as overdone, arguing that Apple’s pullback has created an attractive entry point and that the stock is oversold at support. Stock Of The Day: Is The Apple Sell-Off Over?
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley reiterated a Buy rating on AAPL, saying Apple’s pricing and margin-defense strategy supports upside and leaving its $360 target unchanged. Apple Buy Rating Reiterated as Margin Defense Strategy Supports Upside; $360 Price Target Unchanged
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street remains divided on the broader implications of Apple’s recent price hikes, with some analysts saying the company can pass through costs thanks to its loyal customer base, while others warn the iPhone will be the real test. Apple Can Get Away With Mac Price Hikes, but iPhone Is the Real Test
• Negative Sentiment: Apple raised prices on several Mac and iPad models because surging memory and storage chip costs tied to AI demand are squeezing margins, raising concerns that higher prices could hurt demand and signal more pressure ahead. Apple raises prices of MacBooks, iPads as memory costs skyrocket
• Negative Sentiment: Apple also lost a key Vision Pro hardware executive to OpenAI, adding to investor concern about execution in its spatial-computing and AI efforts. Apple (AAPL) Loses Key Vision Pro Hardware Chief to OpenAI in Major Talent Blow

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $421,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,675,650. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total transaction of $16,511,984.27. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 a total of 97,875 shares of company stock valued at $24,998,541 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $375.00 target price (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective (up from $300.00) 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-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.85.

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.