Altshuler Shaham Ltd Increases Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Altshuler Shaham Ltd sharply increased its Apple stake by 807% in the fourth quarter, buying an additional 198,496 shares and bringing its total holding to 223,092 shares worth about $60.65 million.
• Apple has seen continued institutional interest overall, with hedge funds and other investors owning 67.73% of the stock, even as some insiders recently sold shares.
• Wall Street remains broadly constructive on Apple, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $314.59, while the company also recently beat quarterly earnings and raised its dividend.

Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 807.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 223,092 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 198,496 shares during the quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd's holdings in Apple were worth $60,650,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 110.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1,800.0% during the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $69,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $65,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp grew its stake in Apple by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 365 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $99,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total transaction of $369,460.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,226,770. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 30,002 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,810 shares in the company, valued at $34,934,433.50. This trade represents a 17.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 97,875 shares of company stock valued at $24,998,541 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Maxim Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $350.00 price objective (up from $310.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $314.59.

Trending Headlines about 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 Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $295.95 on Thursday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $288.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $272.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $4.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $195.07 and a twelve month high of $317.40.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

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

About Apple

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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