Baskin Financial Services Inc. cut its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Free Report) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 315,458 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 6,996 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 6.5% of Baskin Financial Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Baskin Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $85,760,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 110.9% during the third quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% in the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $65,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 365 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, eCIO Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $112,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Key Stories Impacting Apple
Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Apple’s latest quarter was a clear beat, with revenue of $111.18 billion and EPS of $2.01 topping expectations, while management also approved a fresh $100 billion buyback and raised the dividend.
- Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI raised its price target on Apple to $365 from $330 and reiterated an Outperform rating, citing strong Services growth and long-term earnings/free-cash-flow compounding.
- Positive Sentiment: Investor enthusiasm remains elevated around Apple’s AI roadmap, with reports pointing to WWDC as a potential catalyst and broader expectations that Apple can monetize AI through devices and Services.
- Positive Sentiment: China-related headlines may also help sentiment, as Xi Jinping told U.S. CEOs including Tim Cook that China will “open wider,” easing some concerns about Apple’s supply chain and market access.
- Neutral Sentiment: Apple is reportedly exploring new AI-agent support in the App Store and additional iOS features, which could support the ecosystem but are still early-stage product rumors.
- Neutral Sentiment: Security reports about vulnerabilities found in macOS/iOS are a reminder of cyber risks, but they do not yet appear to be a material earnings issue.
- Negative Sentiment: OpenAI is reportedly considering legal action against Apple over their ChatGPT partnership, raising the risk of a public dispute around Apple’s AI strategy.
- Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling and a reported Foxconn ransomware incident may slightly temper sentiment, though neither looks large enough to outweigh the bullish earnings and analyst upgrades.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
View Our Latest Research Report on AAPL
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,675,650. This represents a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $833,980,668.14. The trade was 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.
Apple Trading Down 0.2%
Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $298.21 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $264.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $267.25. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $193.46 and a fifty-two week high of $300.92. The company has a market cap of $4.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.06, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.06.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $111.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.
Apple Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared 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 a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.
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