MML Investors Services LLC Acquires 154,601 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• MML Investors Services LLC increased its Apple stake by 5.9% in Q4, buying 154,601 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 2.78 million shares worth about $755.3 million.
• Apple continues to draw strong institutional support, with firms like Vanguard, State Street, Geode, and Morgan Stanley also adding shares; overall, 67.73% of Apple stock is held by institutional investors and hedge funds.
• Wall Street remains broadly bullish on AAPL: multiple analysts raised price targets, Apple posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue, and the company recently lifted its quarterly dividend to $0.27 per share.

MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,778,119 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 154,601 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 1.8% of MML Investors Services LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. MML Investors Services LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $755,260,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% in 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 6,555,392 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,866,103 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased 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 acquiring an additional 1,379,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,266,468,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush said Apple’s WWDC AI rollout could be the “first step” toward adding as much as $100 to the stock, as investors focus on the company’s AI execution and the potential for a stronger Siri/Apple Intelligence roadmap. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports on iOS 27 and Apple Intelligence suggest Apple is making progress on features that could improve older iPhones, expand software value, and strengthen the case for users to upgrade into the next product cycle. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary remains constructive, with several firms reiterating buy/overweight views and price targets clustered well above current levels, reinforcing a bullish long-term sentiment on AAPL. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles highlight Apple’s strong recent operating performance, including record iPhone demand and services revenue, but these are largely a rehash of prior earnings strength rather than a fresh catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: A Yahoo Finance report says rising memory chip costs could pressure Apple’s hardware margins as AI features require more device memory, creating a potential headwind for profitability over the next few quarters. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Broader sentiment is also being dampened by articles noting that the Magnificent Seven, including Apple, have been weak in June and have lagged the broader market at times, which can weigh on near-term momentum. Article Title

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 30,002 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,934,433.50. This trade represents a 17.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 firm's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at $833,980,668.14. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 97,759 shares of company stock worth $24,964,305. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and set a $380.00 target price (up from $330.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Apple from $335.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $375.00 price objective (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. One research 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, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $314.59.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $296.42 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $195.07 and a 1-year high of $317.40. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $286.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $272.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Apple's payout ratio is 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.

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