American Trust Has $18.50 Million Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

American Trust reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 68,055 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,680 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 1.6% of American Trust’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. American Trust’s holdings in Apple were worth $18,501,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $387,749,545,000 after buying an additional 26,856,752 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Apple by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 604,056,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $164,218,801,000 after acquiring an additional 6,555,392 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 358,032,517 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $97,031,587,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866,103 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Apple by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 230,483,035 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $62,659,118,000 after acquiring an additional 1,379,651 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,266,468,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple is reportedly preparing a second-generation iPhone Air for spring 2027, with upgrades including a second rear camera and better battery life, reinforcing the company’s longer-term product pipeline. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts reiterated bullish views after WWDC, arguing Apple’s AI strategy, ecosystem integration, and premium-services monetization could support further upside in AAPL. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: One report said Apple is well positioned to navigate the AI memory crunch because it built up inventory, which could help protect margins versus rivals facing the same component shortage. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple insider Ben Borders sold a small number of shares, but the filing says the sale was mainly to cover tax withholding tied to equity vesting, making it less concerning for investors. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Tim Cook said price hikes across Apple’s lineup are “unavoidable” because AI-driven demand is pushing up memory and storage chip costs, raising concerns about margin pressure and possible consumer backlash. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain frustrated with Apple’s slower-than-expected AI rollout, and some coverage says the company still has to prove tangible progress after WWDC rather than just promise future updates. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Italy opened a Digital Markets Act probe into Apple’s cloud interoperability practices, adding a new regulatory overhang in Europe. Article Title

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total value of $16,511,984.27. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at $833,980,668.14. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 30,002 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.35, for a total value of $7,661,010.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,934,433.50. This trade represents a 17.99% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 97,875 shares of company stock valued at $24,998,541. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $295.95 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $288.06 and its 200-day moving average is $272.66. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $195.07 and a one year high of $317.40. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $111.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Apple from $335.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $375.00 target price (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $276.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $330.00 target price on Apple in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Maxim Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 target price (up from $310.00) 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 issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.59.

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.