Payden & Rygel Cuts Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Payden & Rygel trimmed its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 10.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,800 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the period. Payden & Rygel’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,567,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Box Hill Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $2,609,000. Yanni & Associates Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $543,000. Aerodigm Wealth LLC grew its stake in Apple by 30.5% during the fourth quarter. Aerodigm Wealth LLC now owns 23,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,257,000 after acquiring an additional 5,373 shares in the last quarter. Stronghold Wealth Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $1,041,000. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $2,587,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total transaction of $369,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,226,770. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s WWDC keynote is expected to highlight a revamped Siri, Apple Intelligence updates, and a broader AI strategy, which could act as a near-term catalyst if the company shows meaningful progress. Will WWDC Drive Apple Stock (AAPL) Higher? Here’s What Analysts Expect
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive, with Citi reiterating a Buy and Wedbush reaffirming Outperform with a $400 target, citing Apple’s AI inflection point and resilient iPhone fundamentals. Asiya Merchant Reiterates Buy on Apple, Citing AI Strategy Inflection and Resilient iPhone Fundamentals
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s App Store update showed $1.4 trillion in sales and billings last year, reinforcing the scale of its Services ecosystem even as most transactions did not carry a commission. Apple touts $1.4 trillion in App Store billings and sales, 90% without a commission
• Positive Sentiment: Foxconn raised its second-quarter outlook, a constructive signal for Apple’s supply chain and iPhone demand, since Foxconn is Apple’s top iPhone assembler. Taiwan’s Foxconn raises guidance for second-quarter outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Apple may rely on Google cloud infrastructure and Nvidia chips to power a redesigned Siri suggest the company is prioritizing speed to market, but they also underscore that Apple is leaning on outside partners for its AI push. Apple Taps Google to Prep Siri For September Revamp
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage warns that Apple still faces a high bar to justify its valuation, and UBS noted decelerating App Store growth could pressure the Services growth story if AI execution disappoints. Investors Should Worry About Apple’s (AAPL) Decelerating App Store Growth, Says UBS

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 price objective (up from $325.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective (up from $330.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $312.82.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $307.34 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $195.07 and a 12 month high of $316.94. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $281.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $271.37. The stock has a market cap of $4.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 146.69%. The firm had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.