Apple Inc. $AAPL is Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC trimmed its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,503 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,058 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 3.0% of Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,386,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $387,749,545,000 after purchasing an additional 26,856,752 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 604,056,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $164,218,801,000 after buying an additional 6,555,392 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 358,032,517 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $97,031,587,000 after buying an additional 1,866,103 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 230,483,035 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $62,659,118,000 after buying an additional 1,379,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,266,468,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Ben Borders sold 116 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.14, for a total value of $34,236.24. Following the transaction, the insider owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,425,754.82. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. KeyCorp restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on Apple from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. HSBC upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $260.00 to $366.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $331.60.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $308.91 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $201.50 and a 12 month high of $344.57. The company has a market cap of $4.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $309.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $281.60.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $109.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 135.46% and a net margin of 27.62%.The company’s revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.57 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 12.39%.

Apple News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple reported record June-quarter revenue of $109.4 billion, up 16.4% year over year, and diluted EPS of $2.02, exceeding Wall Street expectations. iPhone revenue rose 22% to $54.3 billion, while Mac revenue increased 29% to $10.4 billion. Apple reports third quarter results
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s large installed base, strong hardware demand and potential consumer-AI opportunities remain long-term supports. Some analysts remain bullish: TD Cowen raised its price target to $400, while other firms maintained Buy or Overweight ratings despite trimming estimates. Analyst raises Apple price target
• Positive Sentiment: The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, payable August 13 to shareholders of record August 10. Apple also continues to emphasize an AI strategy that requires less capital spending than the infrastructure-heavy approach used by some peers. Apple Q3 financial results

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.