Sageworth Trust Co Raises Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Sageworth Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 51.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 18,891 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,451 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 0.2% of Sageworth Trust Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Sageworth Trust Co’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,794,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 16,424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,168,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the period. Sageworth Trust Co of South Dakota purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the first quarter valued at approximately $448,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC lifted its position in Apple by 1.4% during the first quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 286,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $72,685,000 after purchasing an additional 4,072 shares during the period. Quantum Portfolio Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 0.5% during the first quarter. Quantum Portfolio Management LLC now owns 50,436 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,800,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Finally, Stenger Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 8.8% in the first quarter. Stenger Family Office LLC now owns 102,851 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $26,103,000 after purchasing an additional 8,287 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple is reportedly launching a new device leasing program with Klarna, a major change to how it sells hardware that could support upgrade demand and recurring device sales. Reuters: Apple to launch ‘Upgrade’ device leasing program to spur sales, Bloomberg News reports
• Positive Sentiment: HSBC upgraded Apple, saying it is entering a powerful new upgrade cycle supported by AI and a strong hardware roadmap. Barchart: HSBC Says Apple Is Entering a Powerful New Upgrade Cycle
• Positive Sentiment: Several commentators highlighted Apple’s pricing power, strong installed base, and relative insulation from the AI capex arms race as reasons investors are favoring AAPL over some other mega-cap tech names. MarketBeat: Apple Stock Sends Major Warning Signal as Momentum Hits Peak

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on AAPL. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 price target on Apple in a research note on Friday, May 1st. BNP Paribas Exane raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $276.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $325.71.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $327.74 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $201.50 and a 12-month high of $334.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 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 $304.95 and a 200 day moving average of $277.89.

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 8.76 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This is a positive change 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 dividend yield of 0.3%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $421,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,675,650. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ben Borders sold 116 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.14, for a total value of $34,236.24. Following the transaction, the insider owned 38,713 shares in the company, valued at $11,425,754.82. This trade represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 2,924 shares of company stock valued at $825,546 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.