Ruggaard & Associates LLC Cuts Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Ruggaard & Associates LLC cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 16.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,026 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 5,225 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 2.9% of Ruggaard & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Ruggaard & Associates LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. McLaughlin Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $2,990,000. Capstone Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $252,000. Bauman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,554,000. White Knight Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. White Knight Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,486 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,841,000 after buying an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kinloch Capital LLC raised its stake in Apple by 50.6% in the fourth quarter. Kinloch Capital LLC now owns 6,127 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,666,000 after buying an additional 2,058 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s planned price increases could protect margins as memory and storage costs rise, and Bank of America reiterated a Buy rating with a $380 target, citing Apple’s pricing power and supply-chain strength. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports of upcoming AI-focused devices and a second-generation iPhone Air support confidence in Apple’s product pipeline and longer-term growth story. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple’s planned price hikes may help earnings, but they could also pressure demand if consumers balk at higher handset prices. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple opening Brazil’s App Store to alternative marketplaces reduces regulatory friction there, but it also underscores ongoing global platform scrutiny. Article Title

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 1st. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Maxim Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price (up from $310.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of Apple from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned 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 price target of $314.59.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $421,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,675,650. The trade was a 10.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ben Borders sold 116 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.14, for a total transaction of $34,236.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares in the company, valued at $11,425,754.82. This trade represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 97,875 shares of company stock valued at $24,998,541. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $298.01 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.85 and a 52-week high of $317.40. The stock has a market cap of $4.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.04, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $289.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $272.98.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $111.18 billion during 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 in the previous year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Apple’s payout ratio is 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.