Clear Retirement Advice LLC Buys 6,000 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Clear Retirement Advice LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 190.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,147 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,000 shares during the period. Apple makes up 1.8% of Clear Retirement Advice LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Clear Retirement Advice LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $69,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $76,000. 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: China approved Apple Intelligence for iPhones, clearing a major hurdle for Apple’s delayed AI rollout in its biggest international market. Reports also say Alibaba’s Qwen and Baidu models will help power the experience, which should support Apple’s AI adoption story. Alibaba and Baidu shares jump in Hong Kong on Apple AI partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Several market commentators say Apple is benefiting from a “standard oil” style strategy: keep monetizing a massive installed base through hardware, services, and selective ecosystem expansion rather than chasing capital-intensive AI infrastructure. That narrative is helping justify the stock’s record highs. Why Apple’s ‘Standard Oil’ Strategy Is Driving the Stock to All-Time Highs
• Positive Sentiment: Warren Buffett reiterated that Apple remains one of Berkshire Hathaway’s favorite holdings, easing some investor concern about the planned CEO transition from Tim Cook. Warren Buffett Just Reaffirmed Apple as One of His Favorite Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: KeyCorp raised earnings estimates for Apple for several future periods, but kept an Underweight rating and a $250 price target, signaling improving fundamentals while still warning that valuation is rich. Apple Inc. research notes and analyst updates
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple is reportedly exploring acquisitions of chip startups to strengthen its AI server and custom silicon efforts. That could help long-term competitiveness, but the impact is still speculative. Apple chasing AI chip company deals, The Information reports
• Negative Sentiment: Some reports say Apple’s iPhone manufacturing costs are rising because of higher component prices, and that could pressure margins if Apple can’t fully offset those costs with pricing or mix improvements. Apple’s New iPhone Is Going to Cost Significantly More Than Last Year
• Negative Sentiment: Apple is also facing scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers over its China memory-chip sourcing plans, adding a political and supply-chain overhang to the AI and hardware story. AAPL’s China Memory Chip Plans Draw National Security Scrutiny

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $375.00 price objective (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Maxim Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective (up from $310.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $318.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $421,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 is available through this link. Also, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total transaction of $369,460.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,226,770. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 2,924 shares of company stock valued at $825,546 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Up 1.8%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $333.26 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $201.50 and a 1 year high of $334.68. 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 company has a market capitalization of $4.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a fifty day moving average of $302.80 and a 200 day moving average of $276.70.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The business had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. 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%. 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.