Associated Banc Corp Has $144.87 Million Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Associated Banc Corp trimmed its Apple stake by 1.7% in the first quarter, selling 9,772 shares and retaining 570,828 shares valued at approximately $144.87 million. Apple represents about 3.8% of its portfolio and is its fourth-largest holding.
• Institutional investors own 67.73% of Apple, with Vanguard, State Street, Geode Capital and Morgan Stanley among the largest holders. An Apple insider also sold a small number of shares to cover tax obligations related to vested equity awards.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with Apple carrying a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $327.40. The company recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, though its elevated valuation and upcoming earnings could increase investor sensitivity.

Associated Banc Corp trimmed its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 570,828 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 9,772 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 3.8% of Associated Banc Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Associated Banc Corp's holdings in Apple were worth $144,870,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $387,749,545,000 after purchasing an additional 26,856,752 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Apple by 1.1% during 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 0.5% during 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 during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,266,468,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, insider Ben Borders sold 116 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.14, for a total value of $34,236.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 38,713 shares in the company, valued at $11,425,754.82. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Ford said it will embed Apple Maps into upcoming EVs, expanding Apple’s software reach and reinforcing the value of its ecosystem. Ford Embeds Apple Maps Directly into Upcoming EVs
• Positive Sentiment: Baird raised its price target on Apple and reiterated an Outperform rating, adding to bullish analyst momentum. Finviz
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary highlighted Apple as outperforming the broader market, supported by strong ratings and a favorable chart setup ahead of earnings. Why is Apple stock outperforming the broader market?
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple was also the subject of discussion around upcoming product launches, AI features, and a possible device-leasing program, which could support demand but remain unconfirmed or longer-term in nature.
• Negative Sentiment: Some reports noted concerns that Apple’s valuation is stretched heading into earnings, and insider sales plus short-interest chatter may temper enthusiasm if results disappoint.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Apple from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $365.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $327.40.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $333.02 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.27, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.10. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $306.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $279.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $201.50 and a fifty-two week high of $334.99.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.46 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 146.69%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 8.76 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AAPL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.