Wallace Advisory Group LLC Decreases Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Wallace Advisory Group LLC cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 19.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,185 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,921 shares during the period. Apple comprises 2.3% of Wallace Advisory Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Wallace Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,225,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Overbrook Management Corp raised its position in shares of Apple by 57.4% during the 4th quarter. Overbrook Management Corp now owns 104,648 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $28,449,000 after purchasing an additional 38,174 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 397,834 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $101,301,000 after purchasing an additional 8,446 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its position in shares of Apple by 48.4% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 1,426,605 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $363,256,000 after purchasing an additional 465,393 shares during the period. Tufton Capital Management raised its position in shares of Apple by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tufton Capital Management now owns 100,130 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $25,496,000 after purchasing an additional 4,157 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 734,485 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $187,022,000 after purchasing an additional 27,445 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results beat and June-quarter guidance well above Street expectations, giving investors confidence in near-term sales momentum and margins. Apple stages sharpest rally in 9 months as execs cite iPhone, Mac demand in boosting guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Management expanded capital returns — a large share buyback ($100B) plus a dividend raise — which supports EPS and buyback-driven upside. Apple (AAPL) Stock: Q2 Earnings Beat … and $100B Buyback
• Positive Sentiment: Stronger-than-expected demand in Greater China and for the iPhone 17 and Mac lineup (including Mac Mini demand for AI work) is driving top-line upside and a re-rating by some analysts. Apple’s China sales jumped 28%: now analysts are rethinking AAPL
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple firms raised price targets and options activity surged, signaling bullish positioning and expectations for further upside. Analyst moves & options flow
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple signaled it is retiring its net-cash-neutral target — investors interpret this as freeing cash for a potential large AI acquisition, but timing and impact remain speculative. Apple just gave a subtle clue that a splashy AI acquisition may be in the cards
• Neutral Sentiment: Media/services expansion — Apple aims to grow its sports/TV footprint (Formula One content and TV deals), which supports longer-term services revenue diversification but is incremental near term. Apple’s Cue expects F1 movie sequel…
• Negative Sentiment: Management warned that the global memory-chip shortage is worsening — that creates a real near-term cost/margin headwind and could force pricing or longer-term supplier commitments. Apple Warns the Memory Shortage Is Getting Worse
• Negative Sentiment: Some analysts remain cautious — Wall Street is split on whether the beat is sustainable versus one-time effects (tariff refunds, inventory/timing), leaving valuation and durability questions. Wall Street Splits on Apple After Q2 Beat

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total value of $16,511,984.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $833,980,668.14. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,675,650. The trade was a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 96,485 shares of company stock valued at $24,594,845 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 17th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Apple from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, February 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $304.31.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $280.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $4.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $260.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $265.02. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $193.25 and a 52-week high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. The company 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 161.46%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 8.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 11th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 13.15%.

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.