Apple Inc. $AAPL Holdings Lowered by North Star Investment Management Corp.

North Star Investment Management Corp. reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 234,757 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,912 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 3.6% of North Star Investment Management Corp.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. North Star Investment Management Corp.’s holdings in Apple were worth $59,579,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $65,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $69,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $76,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $375.00 target price (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. KGI Securities cut shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $315.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, June 22nd. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total transaction of $369,460.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,226,770. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,675,650. This represents a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $313.39 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $201.50 and a 12-month high of $317.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.60 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $297.74 and a 200 day moving average of $274.68.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $111.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.46 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 146.69%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors 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 yield of 0.3%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Apple’s payout ratio is 13.06%.

Key Headlines 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 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.