Align Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 3,799,244 Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Align Financial LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter, purchasing 3,799,244 shares valued at about $1.03 billion. The position makes Apple roughly 4.6% of the firm’s portfolio and its fifth-largest holding.
• Other major institutional investors also added to Apple, including Vanguard, State Street, Geode Capital, and Morgan Stanley, while institutional ownership overall stands at 67.73%. This suggests continued strong backing from large investors despite recent stock movement.
• Apple’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with $2.01 EPS on revenue of $111.18 billion, and the company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.27. Analysts remain broadly positive, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $314.59.

Align Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 3,799,244 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $1,032,862,000. Apple makes up approximately 4.6% of Align Financial LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Apple by 1.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 26,856,752 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Apple by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 604,056,505 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $164,218,801,000 after purchasing an additional 6,555,392 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 358,032,517 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $97,031,587,000 after purchasing an additional 1,866,103 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Apple by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 230,483,035 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $62,659,118,000 after purchasing an additional 1,379,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,266,468,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 30,002 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.35, for a total transaction of $7,661,010.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,934,433.50. The trade was a 17.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $421,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,675,650. The trade was a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 97,875 shares of company stock valued at $24,998,541 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley set a $325.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating and set a $375.00 target price (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $314.59.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

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

Apple Trading Down 1.1%

AAPL 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. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $195.07 and a 52 week high of $317.40. The business's 50 day moving average is $288.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $272.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The company had revenue of $111.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.06%.

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.

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