Western Wealth Management LLC Raises Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Western Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 263,094 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,397 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 3.3% of Western Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Western Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $71,525,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Isthmus Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 97,177 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 5,808 shares during the period. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 110.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% during the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth $65,000. Finally, 49 Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. 49 Wealth Management LLC now owns 298,920 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 40,543 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of AAPL opened at $311.24 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $280.29 and a 200 day moving average of $271.11. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $195.07 and a fifty-two week high of $316.94. The firm has a market cap of $4.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.09. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase 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 yield of 0.3%. Apple’s payout ratio is 13.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $253.00 target price (up from $248.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Apple from $268.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $312.82.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 30,002 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.35, for a total transaction of $7,661,010.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,934,433.50. The trade was a 17.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total value of $16,511,984.27. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $833,980,668.14. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their position. 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 quarter, insiders sold 97,759 shares of company stock worth $24,964,305. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are looking for WWDC to showcase a major Siri overhaul and new AI features, which could help justify a higher valuation if Apple demonstrates stronger product momentum. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s App Store generated more than $1.4 trillion in developer sales and billings last year, reinforcing the scale and stickiness of its Services ecosystem. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Apple’s AI roadmap and ecosystem strength, with several price-target hikes and Buy calls suggesting upside if the company executes at WWDC. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple approved Poke as the first AI agent on its Messages for Business platform, showing early AI adoption inside its messaging ecosystem, but the near-term financial impact appears limited. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Apple may use Google cloud servers and Nvidia chips to help power Siri signal a faster AI rollout, though they also highlight Apple’s reliance on outside infrastructure. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: UBS warned that App Store growth is decelerating, which matters because App Store revenue is a key driver of Apple’s high-margin Services segment. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Apple agreed to submit India financials in a long-running antitrust case, keeping regulatory risk in focus as authorities move closer to a penalty decision. Article Title

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.