William Blair Investment Management LLC Trims Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

William Blair Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,444,328 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 176,125 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 4.1% of William Blair Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,480,095,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. First National Bank of Hutchinson boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,845,000 after purchasing an additional 6,982 shares during the period. Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,544,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $134,554,000 after purchasing an additional 69,207 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,742,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares during the period. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 50,264 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,587,000 after purchasing an additional 1,155 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 30,002 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.35, for a total value of $7,661,010.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,810 shares in the company, valued at $34,934,433.50. This trade represents a 17.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $421,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,675,650. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

More Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s WWDC keynote is expected to highlight a revamped Siri, Apple Intelligence updates, and a broader AI strategy, which could act as a near-term catalyst if the company shows meaningful progress. Will WWDC Drive Apple Stock (AAPL) Higher? Here’s What Analysts Expect
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive, with Citi reiterating a Buy and Wedbush reaffirming Outperform with a $400 target, citing Apple’s AI inflection point and resilient iPhone fundamentals. Asiya Merchant Reiterates Buy on Apple, Citing AI Strategy Inflection and Resilient iPhone Fundamentals
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s App Store update showed $1.4 trillion in sales and billings last year, reinforcing the scale of its Services ecosystem even as most transactions did not carry a commission. Apple touts $1.4 trillion in App Store billings and sales, 90% without a commission
• Positive Sentiment: Foxconn raised its second-quarter outlook, a constructive signal for Apple’s supply chain and iPhone demand, since Foxconn is Apple’s top iPhone assembler. Taiwan’s Foxconn raises guidance for second-quarter outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Apple may rely on Google cloud infrastructure and Nvidia chips to power a redesigned Siri suggest the company is prioritizing speed to market, but they also underscore that Apple is leaning on outside partners for its AI push. Apple Taps Google to Prep Siri For September Revamp
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage warns that Apple still faces a high bar to justify its valuation, and UBS noted decelerating App Store growth could pressure the Services growth story if AI execution disappoints. Investors Should Worry About Apple’s (AAPL) Decelerating App Store Growth, Says UBS

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Moffett Nathanson increased their target price on shares of Apple from $241.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $375.00 target price (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, May 14th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $330.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $312.82.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $307.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $195.07 and a one year high of $316.94. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $281.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $271.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.06%.

Apple 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.