Live Oak Investment Partners Buys Shares of 5,450 Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Live Oak Investment Partners acquired 5,450 Apple shares valued at approximately $1.58 million during the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 67.73% of Apple’s outstanding stock.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $340.14, although some firms rate the stock Hold or Neutral.
• Apple reported quarterly EPS of $2.02, beating estimates of $1.89, while revenue rose 16.4% year over year to $109.42 billion. Shares recently traded at $336.13, near their 52-week high of $344.57.

Live Oak Investment Partners acquired a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 5,450 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $1,577,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at $13,658,359,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $10,588,946,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 26,856,752 shares in the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 24,974.3% in the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,614,323 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $6,754,449,000 after acquiring an additional 26,508,181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted 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 buying an additional 13,780,080 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Apple in a research report on Monday, August 17th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, June 5th. DZ Bank lowered shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on Apple in a research report on Monday, August 17th. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $340.14.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $336.13 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $4.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.55, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.08. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $240.21 and a 1 year high of $344.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $320.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $294.90.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.13. Apple had a return on equity of 135.46% and a net margin of 27.62%.The business had revenue of $109.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.57 EPS. Apple's revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 12.39%.

Apple News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI raised its Apple price target to $380 from $365 and maintained an outperform view. A survey of roughly 4,000 consumers indicated a potentially stronger-than-expected iPhone upgrade cycle and a higher average selling price. iPhone 18 Pro Hits Stores Today
• Positive Sentiment: iPhone 18 Pro sales are supported by carrier trade-in promotions. Bank of America said incentives can offset the $100 price increase, reducing the risk that higher prices will weaken demand. Apple’s iPhone 18 Lineup Keeps Bank of America Bullish
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s ecosystem is gaining additional reach. General Motors plans to restore Apple CarPlay after consumer backlash, while Apple is reportedly preparing an Apple Pay launch in India with Axis Bank. These developments could support services engagement and ecosystem adoption. GM Is Re-downloading Apple CarPlay
• Neutral Sentiment: Initial iPhone 18 Pro demand indicators are mixed. Quick-commerce shortages in India suggest strong localized demand, but UBS cited muted wait times in several major markets. Investors are also assessing whether customers may delay purchases for Apple’s roughly $1,999 foldable iPhone Duo. Apple iPhone 18 Seeing Muted Initial Wait Times
• Negative Sentiment: Risks include premium pricing, valuation and regulatory pressure. Analysts warn that expensive devices could limit adoption in price-sensitive markets such as India. More than 1,600 Italian Apple store employees also struck on launch day, while Apple continues to challenge a potential UK encryption backdoor order and faces European legal scrutiny. Italian Apple Store Employees Strike

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Jennifer Newstead sold 1,438 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.19, for a total transaction of $474,813.22. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 32,914 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,867,873.66. The trade was a 4.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 8,632 shares of company stock valued at $2,719,955 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Profile

Apple Inc is a technology company that designs, develops and markets consumer electronics, software and digital services. Its principal products include the iPhone, Mac computers, iPad tablets, Apple Watch, AirPods and other accessories. The company also develops operating systems and applications that support its hardware products.

Apple's services business includes the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness+, Apple News+, Apple Pay and iCloud. These services provide digital content, payments, cloud storage and subscription offerings across the company's ecosystem of devices.

Founded in 1976, Apple is headquartered in Cupertino, California, and serves consumers, businesses, educational institutions and government customers worldwide.

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