Madison Asset Management LLC Increases Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Madison Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 201,086 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 5,566 shares during the quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $51,033,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 1,800.0% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $65,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $69,000. Finally, 49 Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. 49 Wealth Management LLC now owns 298,920 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 40,543 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. China Renaissance lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $280.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $245.00 target price (down from $253.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $330.44.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $312.41 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $309.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $283.02. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.58 and a 12 month high of $344.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.83, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.13. Apple had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 135.46%. The company had revenue of $109.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.57 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Ben Borders sold 116 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.14, for a total value of $34,236.24. Following the transaction, the insider owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,425,754.82. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

More Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: App Store revenue rose 0.6% year over year to $3.4 billion during the first 35 days of Apple’s fiscal fourth quarter, despite a 4% decline in iPhone and iPad downloads. Revenue per download increased 4.7% to $1.02, suggesting stronger monetization and supporting the Services business. Apple App Store revenue ticks up despite falling downloads
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s fiscal third-quarter revenue reached a June-quarter record of $109.4 billion, up 16% year over year, while earnings exceeded estimates. Reports also point to broad iPhone, Mac and Services demand, resilient iPhone sales and continued growth in India, providing a fundamental counterweight to recent market concerns. Apple’s Quarterly iPhone Sales Were Even Better Than They Seem
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts and market commentators continue to recommend buying the pullback, arguing that Apple’s ecosystem, product pipeline and long-term earnings potential remain attractive despite near-term volatility. 3 Reasons to Buy Apple Stock on the Dip
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI asked a federal judge to dismiss Apple’s trade-secrets lawsuit, denying that it misappropriated confidential information through former Apple employees. The filing creates legal and reputational uncertainty, although the financial impact is not yet clear. OpenAI asks US judge to dismiss Apple’s trade secrets case
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts at Phillip Securities, DZ Bank and China Renaissance lowered their views on Apple to Moderate Sell or Hold. Concerns include slowing Services growth, elevated memory costs, supply constraints, policy risks and Apple’s premium valuation.
• Negative Sentiment: Services revenue grew about 12% to $30.7 billion, making it the slowest-growing of Apple’s three largest businesses. Tim Cook also warned that rising memory prices could pressure margins, while the CEO transition adds uncertainty after a record quarter. Tim Cook’s Last Quarter as CEO

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.