Apple Inc. $AAPL is DMC Group LLC’s Largest Position

DMC Group LLC grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 57,819 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 4,872 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 9.9% of DMC Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. DMC Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $14,674,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% during the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $69,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $76,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines 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 Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $321.66 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.72 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.89, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.10. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $201.50 and a 1-year high of $334.99. The business’s 50 day moving average is $305.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $278.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 8.76 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. HSBC raised shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $260.00 to $366.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, June 5th. 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 given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $326.83.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of Apple 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 sale, the insider directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.