Three Magnolias Financial Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Three Magnolias Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 17.7% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 18,256 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,750 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 2.9% of Three Magnolias Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Three Magnolias Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,633,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,266,468,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter worth $17,472,482,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its position in shares of Apple by 890.7% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 41,984,810 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,413,990,000 after buying an additional 37,746,784 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 20,464.8% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,069,029 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,553,753,000 after acquiring an additional 26,937,401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Apple by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $387,749,545,000 after acquiring an additional 26,856,752 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the firm’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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total transaction of $369,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares in the company, valued at $11,226,770. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 2,924 shares of company stock worth $825,546 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $276.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Apple from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, June 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.85.

Key Stories Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: The Broadcom agreement should improve Apple’s supply chain resiliency, reduce reliance on overseas suppliers, and strengthen its domestic manufacturing story. Apple to increase spend with Broadcom to produce billions more U.S. chips
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street is also taking the deal as a sign that Apple is investing aggressively in its long-term chip and AI infrastructure, which could support future product launches and margin stability. Apple Announces Broadcom Chip Deal Worth More Than $30 Billion
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple also lost an EU court challenge to the bloc’s Digital Markets Act, leaving its App Store and iOS under tougher antitrust obligations in Europe, but investors appear to be focusing more on the chip deal today. EU court rejects Apple’s challenge against EU rules reining in Big Tech
• Neutral Sentiment: Separately, JPMorgan said recent hardware price increases are unlikely to hurt demand, reinforcing the view that Apple’s pricing power remains intact heading into earnings later this month. Apple price hikes unlikely to hurt demand, JPMorgan says as it raises PT

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $313.39 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $297.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $274.68. The company has a market cap of $4.60 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.89, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.10. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $201.50 and a one year high of $317.40.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $111.18 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.