Lee Financial Co Has $18.15 Million Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Lee Financial Co cut its Apple stake by 42% in Q4 to 66,755 shares worth $18.15 million, representing 2.4% of its portfolio and its ninth-largest holding.
• Major institutions remain heavily invested—Vanguard, State Street, Northern Trust and Geode increased positions and Norges Bank initiated a large new stake, leaving institutional ownership at about 67.73%.
• Insider selling and near-term catalysts: insiders have sold roughly 96,485 shares (~$24.6M) over the last 90 days including sales by Tim Cook and Deirdre O’Brien under 10b5-1 plans; upcoming Q2 earnings, AI competition and App Store legal uncertainty are key near-term sentiment drivers.

Lee Financial Co reduced its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 42.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 66,755 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 48,244 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 2.4% of Lee Financial Co's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Lee Financial Co's holdings in Apple were worth $18,148,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $311,157,662,000 after acquiring an additional 5,005,297 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $123,358,461,000 after buying an additional 5,224,229 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $72,506,336,000 after acquiring an additional 4,942,638 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple in the second quarter worth about $38,942,255,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: iPhone momentum and share gains support revenue upside — reports say Apple reclaimed the top global smartphone slot in the March quarter, which underpins expectations for continued hardware-led top‑line strength. iPhone 17 shipment story
• Positive Sentiment: Services growth and App Store moves could lift recurring revenue — Services jumped ~14% Y/Y in fiscal Q1 and Apple rolled out a cheaper, 12‑month-commitment monthly subscription option to boost retention and ARPU. Services growth article App Store subscription change
• Positive Sentiment: Street upgrades and modest estimate bumps ahead of earnings — UBS and some analysts raised targets and Erste edged FY26 EPS forecasts up, increasing the bar for a beat/guide‑up reaction. UBS price target lift
• Neutral Sentiment: Scheduled earnings and macro prints are the immediate catalyst — Q2 results (Apr 30 after close) and April PCE/GDP/Fed commentary this week increase short‑term volatility and make the print the main market mover. Earnings and economic calendar preview
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO succession to John Ternus is being priced in — investors are parsing his engineering/product focus (longer-term positive) versus near‑term execution risk during the transition. Ternus CEO succession piece
• Negative Sentiment: Competition on AI-first phones (Qualcomm + OpenAI/MediaTek) is pressuring sentiment — reports that rivals are building AI-native chips have led to rotation into chipmakers and increased worry about Apple’s on‑device AI roadmap. Qualcomm/OpenAI competition
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal uncertainty on the App Store persists — Epic’s recent procedural win keeps the external‑payments environment unsettled, which could affect Services economics and developer relations. Epic Games / App Store legal update
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing criticism that Apple lags on AI execution — multiple pieces argue Apple needs a visible AI breakthrough; that narrative is increasing downside risk if the earnings/guide don’t show clear AI monetization progress. Apple AI execution concern
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling flagged — a recent SEC filing shows a sale by a senior finance executive, which can amplify short‑term nervousness even if the size is modest. SEC Form 4

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, 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 owned 136,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,934,433.50. The trade was a 17.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total value of $16,511,984.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at $833,980,668.14. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 96,485 shares of company stock valued at $24,594,845. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Maxim Group upgraded shares of Apple from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $300.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Stephens set a $315.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $301.83.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $270.17 on Thursday. The company's fifty day moving average is $260.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $264.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $193.25 and a 12-month high of $288.62. The company has a market cap of $3.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.11.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.17. Apple had a return on equity of 159.94% and a net margin of 27.04%.The business had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $138.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. Apple's revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 8.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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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