16,124 Shares in Apple Inc. $AAPL Bought by Sterling Financial Planning Inc.

Key Points

• Sterling Financial Planning bought 16,124 Apple shares worth approximately $4.67 million in the second quarter, making Apple 1.3% of its portfolio and its 11th-largest holding.
• Several other institutions also initiated Apple positions, and institutional investors now own 67.73% of the stock.
• Apple recently beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, while its shares trade near their 52-week high at roughly 39 times earnings; analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with a $340.14 price target.

Sterling Financial Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 16,124 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $4,666,000. Apple accounts for 1.3% of Sterling Financial Planning Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Burnham & Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,845,000. Robinhood Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the second quarter worth about $35,385,000. Heron Bay Capital Management acquired a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,971,000. Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $177,541,000. Finally, Expressive Wealth LLC bought a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,955,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Foldable iPhone momentum: Investor enthusiasm remains high following Apple’s introduction of the approximately $1,999 iPhone Duo, which represents the company’s biggest iPhone design change in years. Early interest and strong iPhone 18 Pro preorder lead times have reinforced expectations for an upgrade cycle and potentially higher revenue. Apple Folds & Meta Muses
• Positive Sentiment: AI-focused Macs: New Mac mini and Mac Studio systems are being marketed as a lower-cost alternative to cloud data-center computing because businesses can run AI models locally without recurring per-token charges. The strategy could support Mac demand and broaden Apple’s role in enterprise AI, even as Nvidia remains dominant in large-scale infrastructure. With new Macs, Apple aims to take on Microsoft, Nvidia in a rush to lower AI costs
• Positive Sentiment: Wearables expansion: Apple is reportedly developing a screenless fitness tracker to compete with Whoop and Oura. A lower-priced, health-focused wearable could expand Apple’s addressable market and generate additional services revenue, although the product may not launch until as early as 2028. Apple Considers Screenless Fitness Tracker to Expand Wearable Lineup Beyond Smartwatches
• Positive Sentiment: Services and international growth: Apple plans to launch Apple Pay in India next month, initially with Axis Bank, while hiring in digital assets could support future payments and tokenization initiatives. These efforts add to the company’s recurring-revenue ecosystem.
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation and technical backdrop: Apple’s record run and roughly 39-times earnings multiple are attracting profit-taking concerns, but analysts continue to cite earnings beats, strong cash generation, and improving product momentum. The stock is trading near its 52-week high and close to technical breakout levels.
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and geopolitical risks: Apple is opening claims under a $250 million settlement related to alleged misleading Apple Intelligence advertising. Separately, pressure on the new CEO to reconsider Chinese chip sourcing highlights supply-chain and U.S.-China trade risks.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Jennifer Newstead sold 1,438 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.19, for a total transaction of $474,813.22. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 32,914 shares in the company, valued at $10,867,873.66. This represents a 4.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,632 shares of company stock valued at $2,719,955. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $339.75 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $321.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $295.97. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $243.42 and a 1 year high of $345.34. The company has a market capitalization of $4.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.08.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $109.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $109.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 135.46% and a net margin of 27.62%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.57 EPS. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 10th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Apple's payout ratio is 12.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. KGI Securities lowered Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $315.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Apple in a report on Monday, August 17th. They issued an "overweight" rating for the company. Loop Capital set a $380.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Seaport Research Partners downgraded shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $340.14.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc is a technology company that designs, develops and markets consumer electronics, software and digital services. Its principal products include the iPhone, Mac computers, iPad tablets, Apple Watch, AirPods and other accessories. The company also develops operating systems and applications that support its hardware products.

Apple's services business includes the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness+, Apple News+, Apple Pay and iCloud. These services provide digital content, payments, cloud storage and subscription offerings across the company's ecosystem of devices.

Founded in 1976, Apple is headquartered in Cupertino, California, and serves consumers, businesses, educational institutions and government customers worldwide.

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