Apple Inc. $AAPL Stock: Professional Advisory Services Inc. Boosts Position

Professional Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 88.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 186,613 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 87,398 shares during the period. Apple makes up 7.3% of Professional Advisory Services Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Professional Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $62,146,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp lifted its position in Apple by 4.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 630,662,494 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $182,897,769,000 after buying an additional 28,321,085 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new position in Apple during the second quarter worth about $65,950,297,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at about $36,986,090,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at about $30,443,242,000. Finally, Amundi increased its position in shares of Apple by 23.2% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 73,082,616 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $18,547,637,000 after acquiring 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.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s $1,999 iPhone Duo reportedly sold out within minutes of preorders opening, with delivery estimates pushed into 2027. The response suggests strong pricing power and could establish a significant new premium product category. Apple blames extraordinary demand as foldable iPhones sell out
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI said the iPhone Duo’s extended lead times support its Buy rating and $380 price target. Investors view the launch as a potential catalyst for higher average selling prices and iPhone revenue. Apple early iPhone demand supports Buy rating
• Positive Sentiment: Apple and Meta are collaborating to run Meta’s 816-billion-parameter Muse Spark Open AI model locally on high-end Macs. The partnership may strengthen Mac demand for AI workloads and improve Apple’s AI positioning without requiring a competing mega-scale model. Apple and Meta team up on AI
• Neutral Sentiment: UBS cautioned that iPhone demand could weaken, highlighting the risk that strong initial foldable-phone interest may not translate into sustained volume. Apple’s roughly $5 trillion valuation also leaves the stock dependent on continued execution.
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulators are preparing a legal fight that could require Apple to give competing payment providers access to technology behind Apple Pay’s tap-to-pay functionality. A forced opening could weaken the payments ecosystem and create compliance costs. Apple set for UK legal fight over tap-to-pay rules
• Negative Sentiment: Apple faces ongoing concerns about lagging rivals in AI infrastructure and advanced assistants. Reports that some iPhone 18 Pro component orders were reduced add to questions about future handset demand.
• Negative Sentiment: Senior Vice President Jennifer Newstead sold 2,399 shares worth approximately $828,000. The transaction is small relative to Apple’s size but represents another insider sale and may have modest signaling value.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Apple from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Seaport Research Partners downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. HSBC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $366.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. Finally, China Renaissance lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $329.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $340.39.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $343.46 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $325.83 and a 200 day moving average of $306.16. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $243.42 and a 12 month high of $348.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $109.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 135.46% and a net margin of 27.62%. Apple’s revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.57 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CEO John Ternus sold 25,412 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.94, for a total value of $8,460,671.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 59,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,832,236.98. The trade was a 29.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 46,389 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.42, for a total transaction of $15,467,020.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,615,190.20. This trade represents a 25.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders sold 281,782 shares of company stock worth $93,740,172. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Apple

Apple Inc designs, develops and sells 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 applications that support its hardware ecosystem.

Apple’s services business includes the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Arcade, iCloud, Apple Pay and other subscription, payment and digital-content offerings.