Apple Inc. $AAPL is Busey Bank’s Largest Position

Busey Bank increased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 959,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 4,064 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 6.6% of Busey Bank’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Busey Bank’s holdings in Apple were worth $243,413,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $387,749,545,000 after buying an additional 26,856,752 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 604,056,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $164,218,801,000 after buying an additional 6,555,392 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 0.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,866,103 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 230,483,035 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $62,659,118,000 after acquiring an additional 1,379,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,266,468,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, insider Ben Borders sold 116 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.14, for a total value of $34,236.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,425,754.82. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $421,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly 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 quarter, insiders have sold 2,924 shares of company stock worth $825,546. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $333.74 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $303.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $277.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.36, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.10. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $201.50 and a 52 week high of $334.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 146.69%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 8.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.06%.

Key Stories Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: HSBC upgraded Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) to Buy and raised its price target to $366 from $260, saying the company is at an operational turning point with AI features and hardware momentum supporting growth. HSBC upgrades Apple to Buy, sees “strong cycle ahead”
• Positive Sentiment: China approved Apple Intelligence for iPhones, and Apple will integrate Alibaba’s Qwen AI model in its China rollout, a key step that could expand Apple’s AI adoption in one of its most important markets. Alibaba and Baidu shares jump in Hong Kong on Apple AI partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports say Apple briefly overtook Nvidia in market value, reinforcing the view that investors are rotating toward Apple’s consumer execution and away from some AI-heavy names. Apple closes in on Nvidia in race for world’s most valuable company
• Positive Sentiment: Several commentaries highlighted Apple’s cash generation, shareholder returns, and robotics/innovation efforts, supporting the bullish “cash flow machine” and diversification narrative. Apple’s Core Business Cash Flow Machine Will Support Innovation and Diversification

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 1st. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Apple from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, April 17th. KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $250.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $318.43.

About Apple

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.