Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse Sells Off Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Posted by Tech Dows on Jan 9th, 2025

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) recently sold shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). In a filing disclosed on January 08th, the Senator disclosed that they had sold between $15,001 and $50,000 in Apple stock on December 19th.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse also recently made the following trade(s):

Sold $15,001 – $50,000 in shares of NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) on 1/6/2025.
Sold $15,001 – $50,000 in shares of Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) on 12/19/2024.
Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of MetLife (NYSE:MET) on 11/19/2024.
Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) on 11/18/2024.
Purchased $15,001 – $50,000 in shares of Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) on 10/30/2024.
Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) on 10/29/2024.
Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) on 10/29/2024.
Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Honeywell International (NASDAQ:HON) on 10/29/2024.
Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) on 10/29/2024.
Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) on 10/29/2024.

Apple Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $242.70 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $239.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $229.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Legacy Private Trust Co. lifted its stake in Apple by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. now owns 192,391 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $48,179,000 after buying an additional 12,565 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 131,958 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,045,000 after acquiring an additional 13,949 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 184,171 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $46,120,000 after acquiring an additional 1,531 shares in the last quarter. InvesTrust acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,877,000. Finally, Hilltop Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Hilltop Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,783 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,448,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Citigroup lifted their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.64.

View Our Latest Report on AAPL

About Senator Whitehouse

Sheldon Whitehouse (Democratic Party) is a member of the U.S. Senate from Rhode Island. He assumed office on January 3, 2007. His current term ends on January 3, 2025. Whitehouse (Democratic Party) is running for re-election to the U.S. Senate to represent Rhode Island. He declared candidacy for the 2024 election. Whitehouse previously served as the Rhode Island attorney general from 1999 to 2003. Before that, he was a United States attorney from 1994 to 1998. He was nominated to the position by President Bill Clinton (D). Whitehouse was a superdelegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention from Rhode Island. He cast his vote for Hillary Clinton. As of a 2014 analysis of multiple outside rankings, Whitehouse is an average Democratic member of Congress, meaning he will vote with the Democratic Party on the majority of bills.

About Apple

(Get Free Report)

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.