149,674 Shares in Apple Inc. $AAPL Bought by Northstar Group Inc.

Northstar Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 149,674 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $43,310,000. Apple makes up 5.6% of Northstar Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Rainier Family Wealth Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Rainier Family Wealth Inc. now owns 24,386 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,189,000 after buying an additional 3,014 shares during the period. Eaton Cambridge Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 21.3% during the 1st quarter. Eaton Cambridge Inc. now owns 13,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,545,000 after acquiring an additional 2,450 shares during the period. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $1,178,000. Summit Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 108.3% during the first quarter. Summit Wealth Partners LLC now owns 34,989 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,880,000 after acquiring an additional 18,188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Davis R M Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 2.1% in the first quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 1,151,352 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $292,202,000 after purchasing an additional 23,162 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: iPhone Duo creates a potential new growth cycle. Apple’s $1,999 foldable iPhone, scheduled to arrive October 23, could drive upgrades, deepen ecosystem engagement and add a high-margin premium product category. Some analysts believe foldables could eventually account for 10% to 20% of iPhone revenue. How Wall Street viewed Apple’s foldable iPhone
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts see renewed hardware momentum. Alongside the Duo, Apple unveiled the iPhone 18 Pro lineup, new Apple Watch models, AirPods 5 and expanded Siri AI features. TD Cowen maintained a Buy rating with a $400 target, supporting the bullish reaction. TD Cowen reiterates Buy rating
• Positive Sentiment: Carrier promotions could reduce sticker-price resistance. T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon are offering installment and trade-in incentives for the expensive Duo, potentially broadening access without an immediate industrywide price war. Wireless carrier promotions
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street remains divided. Bank of America retained a Buy rating but lowered its price target to $370, while Rosenblatt kept a Neutral rating and $303 target. The debate centers on Duo demand, supply constraints, valuation and the durability of the upgrade cycle.
• Negative Sentiment: Margin pressure remains the main risk. Apple raised iPhone Pro prices by $100, but memory and other component costs are rising rapidly. Management has already guided to lower gross margins, raising concerns that pricing may not fully offset higher costs. Apple margin pressure from memory costs
• Negative Sentiment: Premium valuation and competition limit upside. Apple trades near the upper end of its historical earnings multiple, while Huawei, Xiaomi and Samsung remain strong competitors in China and the foldable market.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling is a modest cautionary signal. SVP Jennifer Newstead sold approximately $456,000 of stock, reducing her direct holdings by about 4%, although she retains a substantial position.

Apple Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $332.27 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $318.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $292.45. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $229.02 and a 52-week high of $344.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $4.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.08.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.02 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $109.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.57 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 was Monday, August 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $245.00 target price (down from $253.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 31st. DZ Bank downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price objective (down from $380.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $365.00 target price on Apple in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $334.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ben Borders sold 116 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.14, for a total transaction of $34,236.24. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,425,754.82. This trade represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, SVP Jennifer Newstead sold 1,438 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.23, for a total value of $456,176.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 34,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,897,484.96. The trade was a 4.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 7,310 shares of company stock valued at $2,279,378. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Profile

Apple Inc is a technology company that designs, develops and markets consumer electronics, software and digital services. Its principal products include the iPhone, Mac computers, iPad tablets, Apple Watch, AirPods and other accessories. The company also develops operating systems and applications that support its hardware products.

Apple’s services business includes the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness+, Apple News+, Apple Pay and iCloud. These services provide digital content, payments, cloud storage and subscription offerings across the company’s ecosystem of devices.

Founded in 1976, Apple is headquartered in Cupertino, California, and serves consumers, businesses, educational institutions and government customers worldwide.