Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc. Trims Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 151,086 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 15,200 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 7.6% of Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $38,344,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 0.4% in the third quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 9,898 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,520,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC now owns 12,326 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,351,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Interactive Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Interactive Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,051 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $286,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.0% in the first quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC now owns 2,029 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $515,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Orion Investment Co increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Orion Investment Co now owns 14,354 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,902,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Ben Borders sold 116 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.14, for a total value of $34,236.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,425,754.82. This trade represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 1st. KGI Securities downgraded Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $315.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Apple from $335.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $250.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $326.83.

Key Stories Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Ford will integrate Apple Maps and Apple software into upcoming lower-cost EVs and self-driving features, expanding Apple’s automotive footprint and creating another potential platform for its services ecosystem. Ford Will Use Apple Software in New Self-Driving System
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Apple is preparing a smarter shopping assistant for the App Store and testing a more AI-driven buying experience suggest new ways to improve commerce, engagement, and monetization across its ecosystem. Apple Tests Smarter Shopping Experience
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street sentiment remains constructive in places, with Morgan Stanley reportedly raising its Apple target and several pieces arguing Apple could be an underappreciated AI beneficiary as it readies new Macs, iMacs, and other hardware built for AI demand. Apple Plans To Overhaul Computers to Meet AI Demand
• Neutral Sentiment: Samsung’s new foldables and the broader “AI hardware” race are keeping Apple in the spotlight, but the news is mostly competitive context rather than a direct near-term catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: Apple lost a key court bid, leaving a $634 million Apple Watch blood-oxygen patent verdict in place, which keeps legal overhangs alive and could raise investor concern about additional costs or product restrictions. Apple Fails to Overturn $634 Million Masimo Verdict
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple market notes point to Apple’s valuation being rich and the stock being vulnerable to volatility into earnings, with some analysts warning that momentum may be peaking after a strong run.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $321.66 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $201.50 and a fifty-two week high of $334.99. The firm has a market cap of $4.72 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $305.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $278.63.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The company had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 8.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.06%.

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.