Valueworks LLC Acquires 13,842 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Valueworks LLC acquired 13,842 Apple shares in the second quarter, valued at approximately $4.0 million. Institutional investors collectively own 67.73% of Apple’s outstanding stock.
• Analysts remain broadly optimistic, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $340.14, while Apple’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations for both earnings and revenue.
• Apple shares opened at $329.40 after declining 2.7%; the company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, equivalent to a 0.3% annualized yield.

Valueworks LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 13,842 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $4,005,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $65,950,297,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,986,090,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,443,242,000. Nuveen LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 75,000,920 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $20,389,750,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,121 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 13,780,080 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jennifer Newstead sold 2,399 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.06, for a total transaction of $815,803.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 44,391 shares in the company, valued at $15,095,603.46. The trade was a 5.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 11,031 shares of company stock worth $3,535,759. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and set a $303.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 10th. CICC Research upped their target price on Apple from $310.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $350.00 price target (up from $310.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Argus raised their price target on Apple from $325.00 to $375.00 in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $340.14.

Apple Trading Down 2.7%

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $329.40 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $243.42 and a 52 week high of $345.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $321.83 and a 200 day moving average of $298.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.78, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.39%.

Apple News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: CEO John Ternus is reportedly considering a leaner, engineering-led structure that could eliminate layers of middle management, accelerate product launches and make Apple more experimental. Investors may view the changes as a response to concerns about slower innovation, particularly in artificial intelligence. Apple CEO overhaul report
• Positive Sentiment: Apple Pay is reportedly launching in a key market, potentially expanding transaction volume and services revenue. Separately, Apple remains a major customer for TSMC’s advanced 2-nanometer chips, supporting future device performance and product differentiation. Apple Pay launch report
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple’s large buyback program remains a relative strength among the Magnificent Seven, although the immediate effect is financial support rather than a new growth catalyst. Apple and Nvidia buybacks
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America warned that Meta’s Muse could change how consumers search, shop and initiate payments. Even if users continue buying iPhones, AI agents could divert discovery and referral activity away from Apple’s ecosystem, putting pressure on services growth and Apple’s AI strategy. Apple faces threat from Meta Muse
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Ternus may plan layoffs as memory-chip costs rise raise concerns about gross-margin pressure and slower near-term earnings growth. Apple has already indicated that higher memory expenses could reduce profit per device.
• Negative Sentiment: Apple also faces legal and operational overhangs, including a $5.7 billion patent verdict, a revived UK consumer lawsuit involving Amazon marketplace sales, and an emergency iOS security update addressing a flaw that could enable arbitrary code execution. Apple patent verdict

Apple Profile

Apple Inc is a technology company that designs, develops and markets consumer electronics, software and digital services. Its best-known products include the iPhone smartphone, Mac personal computers, iPad tablets, Apple Watch, AirPods and other accessories. The company also develops operating systems and software platforms, including iOS, macOS, iPadOS, watchOS and visionOS.

Apple's services business includes the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, Apple Fitness+ and iCloud.

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