Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Purchased by Encompass More Asset Management

Key Points

• Encompass More Asset Management increased its Apple position by 8.5% in the third quarter, adding 2,049 shares to hold 26,113 shares valued at approximately $8.7 million.
• Institutional ownership remains substantial, with hedge funds and other institutions holding 67.73% of Apple’s shares; State Street, Berkshire Hathaway, Bank of America, Legal & General, and Amundi were among major holders making recent changes.
• Apple faces a mixed outlook: AI expansion, strong product demand, and new hardware support growth, while rising memory costs, potential margin pressure, insider selling, and a valuation near 40 times earnings create risks ahead of earnings.

Encompass More Asset Management raised its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,113 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 2,049 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 1.3% of Encompass More Asset Management's portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Encompass More Asset Management's holdings in Apple were worth $8,696,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Apple by 4.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 630,662,494 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $182,897,769,000 after buying an additional 28,321,085 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $65,950,297,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at $36,986,090,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at $30,443,242,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in Apple by 23.2% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 73,082,616 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $18,547,637,000 after acquiring an additional 13,780,080 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple acquired Ascension Labs, which operates as Ascend.io, gaining access to agentic artificial-intelligence talent and intellectual property. The deal supports Apple’s effort to strengthen its AI capabilities, although financial terms were not disclosed. Apple Acquires AI Firm Ascend.io Talent and Patents
• Positive Sentiment: Demand indicators remain supportive: the foldable iPhone Duo reportedly sold out quickly, orders are backed up, and Apple is positioned to benefit from strong iPhone, Mac and Services demand. Analysts including Bank of America and Goldman Sachs remain constructive, with BofA reiterating a Buy rating and a $370 price target. Analyst Reiterates Buy on Apple
• Positive Sentiment: The first touchscreen MacBook Pro, equipped with OLED displays and M5 Pro or M5 Max chips, expands Apple’s premium hardware lineup and could support a new product-cycle catalyst. Apple Shows First Touchscreen Laptops
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple’s earnings report is the immediate focus. Investors will look for evidence that revenue growth, Services momentum and AI investments can offset rising component costs and potentially slower holiday growth. Options activity suggests substantial volatility around the release. Apple November 2 Earnings Preview
• Negative Sentiment: AI-related demand has sharply increased flash-memory prices, raising concerns that Apple’s gross margin will come under pressure. Qualcomm also indicated that Apple-related revenue is declining faster than previously expected, reinforcing concerns about the pace of future iPhone growth. AI Has Made Flash Memory More Expensive
• Negative Sentiment: At roughly 40 times earnings and near its yearly high, Apple has limited room for an earnings or guidance disappointment. A senior vice president’s repeated stock sales and a South Korean fine related to app-market practices add modest additional caution. Apple Insider Selling

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Timothy Cook sold 191,753 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.96, for a total transaction of $63,846,078.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 3,264,168 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,086,837,377.28. The trade was a 5.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO John Ternus sold 25,412 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.94, for a total transaction of $8,460,671.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 59,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,832,236.98. This trade represents a 29.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 289,252 shares of company stock valued at $96,301,063 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $344.63 on Monday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $333.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $296.38. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $243.42 and a 12 month high of $351.73. The stock has a market cap of $5.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.07. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $109.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 135.46%. Apple's revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.57 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $400.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. DZ Bank cut shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Phillip Securities upped their price target on Apple from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $340.49.

Apple Profile

Apple Inc designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and digital services. Its best-known products include the iPhone smartphone, Mac personal computers, iPad tablets, Apple Watch, AirPods and other accessories. The company also develops operating systems and applications that support its hardware ecosystem.

Apple's services business includes the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Arcade, iCloud, Apple Pay and other subscription, payment and digital-content offerings.

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