Millennium Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 1,602 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Millennium Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 93,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,602 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 16.2% of Millennium Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Millennium Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $31,069,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.7% in the 2nd 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 period. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth about $65,950,297,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Apple during the second quarter worth about $36,986,090,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Apple during the second quarter worth about $30,443,242,000. Finally, Amundi raised its position in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain optimistic ahead of earnings, citing strong demand for Apple’s new iPhone Duo, continued Services growth and potential AI-related momentum. Options activity also points to expectations for a post-earnings rally. Apple’s Q4 Earnings Loom
• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs reaffirmed its Buy rating, while Monness raised its price target to $355. Apple is also attracting attention as it approaches Nvidia in market capitalization, with revenue growth described as its fastest in about five years. Apple Stock Heads Toward All-Time High
• Positive Sentiment: Apple launched its first touchscreen MacBook Pro, featuring OLED displays and M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. The move expands the Mac product cycle and could support higher average selling prices, despite the premium starting price. Apple Shows First Touchscreen Laptops
• Neutral Sentiment: Forty-seven exchange-traded funds added to their Apple holdings, indicating continued institutional demand, although the purchases do not necessarily signal near-term changes in fundamentals. 47 ETFs Add to Apple Holdings
• Negative Sentiment: Investors face margin and valuation concerns. AI-driven flash-memory demand has sharply increased component costs, while Apple’s roughly 40-times earnings multiple leaves limited room for disappointing guidance. AI Has Made Flash Memory More Expensive
• Negative Sentiment: South Korea fined Apple and Google a combined $47.6 million over alleged unfair app-payment practices. Early reports of cracked iPhone Duo screens and an executive stock sale add smaller sources of investor caution. South Korea Fines Google and Apple

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 46,389 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 136,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,615,190.20. The trade was a 25.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, SVP Jennifer Newstead sold 2,399 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.18, for a total transaction of $806,495.82. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 41,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,116,870.56. This trade represents a 5.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 289,252 shares of company stock valued at $96,301,063. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. BTIG Research initiated coverage on Apple in a report on Monday, August 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $355.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $303.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 10th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $340.59.

Apple Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $348.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The company has a market cap of $5.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.01, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $332.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $295.96. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $243.42 and a 1-year high of $351.73.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $109.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 135.46%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.57 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Company Profile

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.