Apple Inc. $AAPL is Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 122,723 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,690 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 4.7% of Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $33,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 26,856,752 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $123,358,461,000 after purchasing an additional 5,224,229 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $72,506,336,000 after purchasing an additional 4,942,638 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $38,942,255,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total transaction of $369,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,226,770. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total transaction of $16,511,984.27. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $833,980,668.14. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 1st. 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. Jefferies Financial Group set a $330.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $253.00 target price (up from $248.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $312.82.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $307.34 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $195.07 and a 1 year high of $316.94. The company has a market cap of $4.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.16, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $281.39 and a 200 day moving average of $271.37. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 146.69%. The company had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 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.