Dogwood Wealth Management LLC Lowers Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Dogwood Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 19.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,533 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 1.2% of Dogwood Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,778,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Frontier Asset Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 45.6% during the fourth quarter. Frontier Asset Management LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. NWM Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,176,000. Flagship Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Apple by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,947 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,073,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Ebert Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,855,000. Finally, Pandora Wealth Inc. raised its position in Apple by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Pandora Wealth Inc. now owns 64,798 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $17,616,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

More Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analysts reiterated bullish views on Apple ahead of WWDC, including Goldman Sachs keeping a Buy rating with a $340 target and Evercore ISI lifting its target to $365, citing Apple’s AI roadmap, ecosystem strength, and services growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Investor expectations remain high that Apple will unveil major AI updates at WWDC, especially a rebuilt Siri and deeper Apple Intelligence features, which could extend the stock’s recent rally. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports suggest Apple may expand its ecosystem with a native bill-splitting/payment feature in iOS, which could deepen user engagement and strengthen its services revenue stream. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary around Apple’s stock has been upbeat, with articles highlighting outperformance versus the S&P 500 and strong demand for iPhones and Macs ahead of the conference. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: UBS said not to expect fireworks from WWDC and kept a Neutral rating, suggesting the event may not deliver a near-term stock catalyst if announcements disappoint. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple’s recent gains and all-time high have also prompted valuation concerns, with some analysts and commentators warning the shares may already price in a lot of good news. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reuters reported that Apple agreed to submit India business financials in an antitrust case, keeping regulatory risk in focus and raising the possibility of penalties. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive headlines from Nvidia, Walmart, and others show mounting pressure on parts of Apple’s ecosystem, including PCs and payments, which could weigh on sentiment if rivals gain traction. Article Title

Apple Stock Down 1.6%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $310.26 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $4.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.52, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $195.07 and a 1 year high of $316.94. The business’s 50-day moving average is $279.10 and its 200 day moving average is $270.84.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $109.46 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The business’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 13.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 price target on Apple in a research report on Friday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $330.00 price target on Apple in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up from $350.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 8th. One equities research 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $312.82.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total transaction of $16,511,984.27. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through 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 that occurred on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $421,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,675,650. The trade was a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company 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.