D.A. Davidson & CO. Buys 27,114 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,523,959 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,114 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 2.3% of D.A. Davidson & CO.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Apple were worth $386,766,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. increased its position in Apple by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 9,898 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,520,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. WESPAC Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the 4th 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. raised its position in Apple by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Interactive Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,051 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $286,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 2.0% during the first quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC now owns 2,029 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $515,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Investment Co increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Orion Investment Co now owns 14,354 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,902,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 7.4%

AAPL stock opened at $308.91 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $309.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.45. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $201.50 and a 12 month high of $344.57.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $109.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 142.29%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.57 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 10th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 12.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total value of $369,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple reported record June-quarter revenue of $109.4 billion, up 16.4% year over year, and diluted EPS of $2.02, exceeding Wall Street expectations. iPhone revenue rose 22% to $54.3 billion, while Mac revenue increased 29% to $10.4 billion. Apple reports third quarter results
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s large installed base, strong hardware demand and potential consumer-AI opportunities remain long-term supports. Some analysts remain bullish: TD Cowen raised its price target to $400, while other firms maintained Buy or Overweight ratings despite trimming estimates. Analyst raises Apple price target
• Positive Sentiment: The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, payable August 13 to shareholders of record August 10. Apple also continues to emphasize an AI strategy that requires less capital spending than the infrastructure-heavy approach used by some peers. Apple Q3 financial results

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. HSBC upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $260.00 to $366.00 in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Apple from $276.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and set a $245.00 price objective (down from $253.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $331.60.

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.