200,934 Shares in Apple Inc. $AAPL Acquired by Madison Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Madison Asset Management LLC acquired 200,934 Apple shares during the second quarter, valued at approximately $58.1 million.
• Institutional investors own 67.73% of Apple’s outstanding stock, with major holders including Vanguard, Nuveen, Amundi and Dimensional Fund Advisors increasing their positions.
• Apple has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average analyst price target of $340.14. The company recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting $2.02 in EPS and $109.42 billion in revenue.

Madison Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 200,934 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $58,142,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $387,749,545,000 after buying an additional 26,856,752 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 75,000,920 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $20,389,750,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725,121 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in Apple by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 73,082,616 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $18,547,637,000 after acquiring an additional 13,780,080 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 58,554,032 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $14,858,200,000 after acquiring an additional 979,832 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,146,752 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $14,992,196,000 after acquiring an additional 704,293 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Jennifer Newstead sold 1,438 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.19, for a total transaction of $474,813.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 32,914 shares in the company, valued at $10,867,873.66. This trade represents a 4.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 8,632 shares of company stock valued at $2,719,955 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI raised its Apple price target to $380 from $365 and maintained an outperform view. A survey of roughly 4,000 consumers indicated a potentially stronger-than-expected iPhone upgrade cycle and a higher average selling price. iPhone 18 Pro Hits Stores Today
• Positive Sentiment: iPhone 18 Pro sales are supported by carrier trade-in promotions. Bank of America said incentives can offset the $100 price increase, reducing the risk that higher prices will weaken demand. Apple’s iPhone 18 Lineup Keeps Bank of America Bullish
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s ecosystem is gaining additional reach. General Motors plans to restore Apple CarPlay after consumer backlash, while Apple is reportedly preparing an Apple Pay launch in India with Axis Bank. These developments could support services engagement and ecosystem adoption. GM Is Re-downloading Apple CarPlay
• Neutral Sentiment: Initial iPhone 18 Pro demand indicators are mixed. Quick-commerce shortages in India suggest strong localized demand, but UBS cited muted wait times in several major markets. Investors are also assessing whether customers may delay purchases for Apple’s roughly $1,999 foldable iPhone Duo. Apple iPhone 18 Seeing Muted Initial Wait Times
• Negative Sentiment: Risks include premium pricing, valuation and regulatory pressure. Analysts warn that expensive devices could limit adoption in price-sensitive markets such as India. More than 1,600 Italian Apple store employees also struck on launch day, while Apple continues to challenge a potential UK encryption backdoor order and faces European legal scrutiny. Italian Apple Store Employees Strike

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $360.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Seaport Research Partners lowered Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Bank of America reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday. Phillip Securities lifted their price objective on Apple from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. One equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $340.14.

Apple Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $336.13 on Friday. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $320.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $294.69. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $240.21 and a one year high of $344.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.91 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.55, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.08. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Apple had a return on equity of 135.46% and a net margin of 27.62%.The company had revenue of $109.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.57 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Apple 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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