Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Purchased by Constant Guidance Financial LLC

Constant Guidance Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 20.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,372 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 3,156 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 3.4% of Constant Guidance Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Constant Guidance Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Isthmus Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 6.4% during the third 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 last quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 110.9% during the third 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 last quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 1,800.0% during the first 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 last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Finally, 49 Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 15.7% during the third 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 last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Investors were disappointed that Siri’s AI overhaul still appears behind rivals, with launch timing stretching into later this year and some features limited to the U.S. at first. Apple shares slide after big Siri AI reveal
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts warned that Apple is relying on Google Gemini/Nvidia infrastructure for parts of its advanced AI stack, raising questions about how much of the AI value capture Apple keeps in-house. Apple failed to make its AI tool to comply to EU regulations, EU Commission says
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley said the new Siri features may be held back by older iPhones, limiting the near-term upgrade cycle and the addressable installed base. Apple’s AI Siri will be held back by aging devices, Morgan Stanley says

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total value of $369,460.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total transaction of $16,511,984.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 97,759 shares of company stock worth $24,964,305. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $290.55 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $195.07 and a 52 week high of $317.40. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $283.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $271.79.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 146.69%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 13.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $375.00 price target (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, May 14th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.59.

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.