3,325 Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Acquired by Sapient Capital LLC

Sapient Capital LLC boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,159,043 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,325 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 5.3% of Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $385,658,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 8.7% during the third quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 206,627 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $68,171,000 after purchasing an additional 16,459 shares during the last quarter. Kure Advisory LLC grew its position in Apple by 0.6% in the third quarter. Kure Advisory LLC now owns 6,635 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,210,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc grew its position in Apple by 4,140.8% in the third quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc now owns 563,854 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $187,775,000 after buying an additional 550,558 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 54.4% in the third quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 380,103 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $126,582,000 after buying an additional 133,966 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the third quarter. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,243 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,742,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s $1,999 iPhone Duo reportedly sold out within minutes of preorders opening, with delivery estimates pushed into 2027. The response suggests strong pricing power and could establish a significant new premium product category. Apple blames extraordinary demand as foldable iPhones sell out
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI said the iPhone Duo’s extended lead times support its Buy rating and $380 price target. Investors view the launch as a potential catalyst for higher average selling prices and iPhone revenue. Apple early iPhone demand supports Buy rating
• Positive Sentiment: Apple and Meta are collaborating to run Meta’s 816-billion-parameter Muse Spark Open AI model locally on high-end Macs. The partnership may strengthen Mac demand for AI workloads and improve Apple’s AI positioning without requiring a competing mega-scale model. Apple and Meta team up on AI
• Neutral Sentiment: UBS cautioned that iPhone demand could weaken, highlighting the risk that strong initial foldable-phone interest may not translate into sustained volume. Apple’s roughly $5 trillion valuation also leaves the stock dependent on continued execution.
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulators are preparing a legal fight that could require Apple to give competing payment providers access to technology behind Apple Pay’s tap-to-pay functionality. A forced opening could weaken the payments ecosystem and create compliance costs. Apple set for UK legal fight over tap-to-pay rules
• Negative Sentiment: Apple faces ongoing concerns about lagging rivals in AI infrastructure and advanced assistants. Reports that some iPhone 18 Pro component orders were reduced add to questions about future handset demand.
• Negative Sentiment: Senior Vice President Jennifer Newstead sold 2,399 shares worth approximately $828,000. The transaction is small relative to Apple’s size but represents another insider sale and may have modest signaling value.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Apple from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on Apple in a research note on Monday, August 17th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Raymond James Financial restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $355.00 target price on Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $340.39.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $343.46 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $243.42 and a fifty-two week high of $348.15. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $325.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $306.16. 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 $5.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.07.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.13. Apple had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 135.46%. The business had revenue of $109.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.57 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 12.39%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO John Ternus sold 25,412 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.94, for a total value of $8,460,671.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 59,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,832,236.98. This trade represents a 29.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 46,389 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.42, for a total value of $15,467,020.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,615,190.20. This trade represents a 25.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 281,782 shares of company stock valued at $93,740,172 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.