767,131 Shares in Apple Inc. $AAPL Purchased by Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd.

Key Points

• Daiichi Life Insurance purchased 767,131 Apple shares worth approximately $222 million, making Apple its largest portfolio holding at 5.2%. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 67.73% of Apple.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with Apple carrying a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $340.14, despite one recent downgrade to “Hold.”
• Apple reported quarterly earnings of $2.02 per share and $109.42 billion in revenue, exceeding estimates, while revenue grew 16.4% year over year. The company also maintains a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share.

Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 767,131 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $221,977,000. Apple comprises 5.2% of Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Commerce Bank bought a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at about $1,236,795,000. GQG Partners LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $372,229,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,033,310,000. Cadence Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $661,000. Finally, Academy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $79,101,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $360.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, August 17th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, June 5th. Bank of America restated a "buy" rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, China Renaissance lowered shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $329.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $340.14.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $337.02 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $243.42 and a 1 year high of $345.34. The company has a market cap of $4.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $321.36 and a 200-day moving average of $296.51.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. 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 payout ratio is 12.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Jennifer Newstead sold 1,438 shares of Apple 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 32,914 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,867,873.66. The trade was a 4.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,632 shares of company stock valued at $2,719,955. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America reaffirmed its Buy rating and assigned a $370 price target, implying further upside. The firm highlighted improving iPhone 18 Pro Max availability trends, while premium demand remains relatively resilient. BofA Sends Stark Message to Apple Stock Investors on iPhone 18
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s new M6 Mac mini and M5 Mac Studio are being marketed as lower-cost alternatives to cloud-based AI infrastructure, potentially expanding Apple’s enterprise opportunity. Their ability to run large AI models locally could create a new hardware growth driver. With new Macs, Apple aims to take on Microsoft and Nvidia
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Apple is developing a screenless fitness tracker to compete with Whoop and Oura point to potential long-term expansion in health and wearables, although a launch may not occur until 2028. Apple could take on Whoop with a new fitness tracker

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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