Sander Capital Advisors Inc. Has $30.95 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Sander Capital Advisors trimmed its position in Apple by 7.1% in Q4 to 113,833 shares worth $30.95 million, making AAPL about 14.7% of the fund and its second-largest holding.
• Several large institutions (including Norges Bank, Nuveen, Northern Trust and UBS AM) materially increased Apple positions during recent quarters, leaving institutional ownership at about 67.7%.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $301.23, while Apple trades near $260 after a recent quarter that beat earnings and showed strong revenue growth.

Sander Capital Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 113,833 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 8,696 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 14.7% of Sander Capital Advisors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Sander Capital Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $30,947,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $38,942,255,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter worth $17,472,482,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 20,464.8% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,069,029 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,553,753,000 after buying an additional 26,937,401 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $26,220,566,000 after buying an additional 13,137,968 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Scotiabank set a $330.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. KGI Securities upgraded Apple to an "outperform" rating and set a $306.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $315.00 target price (down from $330.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Stephens set a $315.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Monday, January 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $301.23.

Apple News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong core demand and earnings setup — analysts and previews point to robust iPhone demand heading into Q2 after Apple’s recent upside quarter, supporting revenue and margin expectations. Apple Q2 Earnings Preview
• Positive Sentiment: Wall‑Street support — Wedbush and other analysts are reiterating bullish themes (AI positioning, strong margins, sticky services ecosystem), which underpins investor confidence in AAPL as a long‑term growth story. Wedbush: Latest 'Victory' for Apple Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Investor positioning and options flow look bullish — unusual options activity and renewed retail/institutional buying in the Magnificent Seven are supporting the stock’s rebound. Unusual Activity in Apple Options
• Positive Sentiment: Product demand signals — reports show iPhone 17 sales outpacing prior models and Mac lead times lengthening, suggesting continued hardware revenue strength. iPhone Sales Continue to Surge
• Neutral Sentiment: AI/cybersecurity partnerships could bring strategic upside but are longer‑term — Anthropic’s Mythos and industry collaborations (including Apple testing) highlight both risk mitigation and potential platform benefits. Anthropic's Mythos Raises Questions
• Neutral Sentiment: tvOS security ecosystem expands — third‑party vendor DoveRunner released enterprise runtime protection for Apple TV apps; small operational relevance for Apple but positive for platform security. DoveRunner Extends App Protection to Apple TV
• Negative Sentiment: Foldable iPhone uncertainty fuels volatility — reports of engineering setbacks and leaked dummies earlier triggered a pullback; mixed follow‑ups (some say still on schedule) leave timing and margin impact unclear. Apple Shares Plunge on Foldable Reports
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling alert — filings show senior executives sold stock (~$24.2M disclosed), which can concern some investors despite being modest vs. Apple’s market cap. Monster Insider Trading Alert

Apple Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $260.49 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $260.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $263.70. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $183.00 and a one year high of $288.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released 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. The firm's revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple's payout ratio is presently 13.15%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 30,002 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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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