Round Rock Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Round Rock Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 66,993 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,123 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 2.7% of Round Rock Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Round Rock Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $18,213,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Isthmus Partners LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 6.4% during the third quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 97,177 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 5,808 shares in the last quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 110.9% during the third quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 1,800.0% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Finally, 49 Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 15.7% during the third quarter. 49 Wealth Management LLC now owns 298,920 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 40,543 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting 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

Several research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $325.00 price objective on Apple in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Phillip Securities upgraded Apple from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $308.74.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total value of $369,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,226,770. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 97,759 shares of company stock worth $24,964,305. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $300.23 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $265.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $267.47. The company has a market capitalization of $4.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.06. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $193.46 and a 1 year high of $303.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $111.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.46 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The company’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.06%.

About Apple

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.