Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by West Branch Capital LLC

West Branch Capital LLC trimmed its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 145,702 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,796 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 11.0% of West Branch Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $48,522,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Apple by 4.7% during the second 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 last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $65,950,297,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,986,090,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,443,242,000. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of Apple by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 73,082,616 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $18,547,637,000 after buying an additional 13,780,080 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Argus increased their target price on shares of Apple from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Apple from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 price target (up from $310.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 31st. Barclays upped their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Loop Capital lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $330.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $343.74.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ben Borders sold 1,280 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.40, for a total value of $442,112.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 38,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,224,675.20. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO John Ternus sold 25,412 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.94, for a total transaction of $8,460,671.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 59,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,832,236.98. This represents a 29.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 291,651 shares of company stock valued at $97,082,537. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Trending Headlines about Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple beat fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue expectations, with revenue of $114.5 billion and solid iPhone and Mac demand. The results support the view that product demand remains healthy. Apple shares fell despite a double beat in Q4
• Positive Sentiment: Bernstein raised its price target to $380 and kept a Buy rating, citing potential upside from Apple’s business prospects. Bernstein rating and price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple is reportedly seeking up to $7 billion through a bond offering. The borrowing adds financing flexibility, but the reports did not specify how proceeds would be used. Apple seeks about $7 billion from bond sale
• Negative Sentiment: Management flagged memory-chip costs that could keep rising, along with supply constraints ahead of the December quarter. These pressures may weigh on margins even as demand remains strong. Supply constraints and rising memory costs
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also scrutinizing earnings quality: tariff refunds boosted reported profit metrics, making the underlying results less straightforward to assess. Investors revisit Apple earnings quality
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst caution and valuation concerns add to the headwinds. DZ Bank cut Apple to Sell, while coverage also points to slower Services growth and a premium share valuation. DZ Bank downgrades Apple

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $344.17 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $335.46 and a 200 day moving average of $298.03. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $243.42 and a 1 year high of $355.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.07.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $114.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.40 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 125.35% and a net margin of 27.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.85 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 9.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 12th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Apple’s payout ratio is 12.39%.

About Apple

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.