Long Road Investment Counsel LLC Has $7.38 Million Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Long Road Investment Counsel LLC raised its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 10.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,100 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,800 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 2.9% of Long Road Investment Counsel LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Long Road Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,385,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $387,749,545,000 after purchasing an additional 26,856,752 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position 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 worth $164,218,801,000 after purchasing an additional 6,555,392 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 worth $97,031,587,000 after buying an additional 1,866,103 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew 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 worth $62,659,118,000 after buying an additional 1,379,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $52,266,468,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Ben Borders sold 116 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.14, for a total transaction of $34,236.24. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,425,754.82. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: App Store revenue rose 0.6% year over year to $3.4 billion during the first 35 days of Apple’s fiscal fourth quarter, despite a 4% decline in iPhone and iPad downloads. Revenue per download increased 4.7% to $1.02, suggesting stronger monetization and supporting the Services business. Apple App Store revenue ticks up despite falling downloads
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s fiscal third-quarter revenue reached a June-quarter record of $109.4 billion, up 16% year over year, while earnings exceeded estimates. Reports also point to broad iPhone, Mac and Services demand, resilient iPhone sales and continued growth in India, providing a fundamental counterweight to recent market concerns. Apple’s Quarterly iPhone Sales Were Even Better Than They Seem
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts and market commentators continue to recommend buying the pullback, arguing that Apple’s ecosystem, product pipeline and long-term earnings potential remain attractive despite near-term volatility. 3 Reasons to Buy Apple Stock on the Dip
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI asked a federal judge to dismiss Apple’s trade-secrets lawsuit, denying that it misappropriated confidential information through former Apple employees. The filing creates legal and reputational uncertainty, although the financial impact is not yet clear. OpenAI asks US judge to dismiss Apple’s trade secrets case
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts at Phillip Securities, DZ Bank and China Renaissance lowered their views on Apple to Moderate Sell or Hold. Concerns include slowing Services growth, elevated memory costs, supply constraints, policy risks and Apple’s premium valuation.
• Negative Sentiment: Services revenue grew about 12% to $30.7 billion, making it the slowest-growing of Apple’s three largest businesses. Tim Cook also warned that rising memory prices could pressure margins, while the CEO transition adds uncertainty after a record quarter. Tim Cook’s Last Quarter as CEO

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $312.41 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.58 and a fifty-two week high of $344.57. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $309.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $283.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market cap of $4.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.13. Apple had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 135.46%. The firm had revenue of $109.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.57 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 12.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on AAPL. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Apple from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, July 13th. KeyCorp reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 target price (up from $310.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $330.44.

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.