On Aug. 6, 2025, Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC disclosed in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it sold shares of Apple(AAPL -0.92%) worth $5.32 million during the second quarter of 2025.
Key points
Sold 26,314 Apple shares for $5.32 million in Q2 2025
The transaction represented 0.13% of 13F reportable assets under management
Post-trade Apple stake: 257,609 shares valued at $52.85 million as of June 30, 2025
Apple remains a notable holding, but its proportion of this fund's AUM decreased from 1.44% to 1.30% following the trade.
What happened
According to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing published on Aug. 6, 2025, Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC reduced its Apple position by 26,314 shares in Q2 2025. The sale was valued at $5.32 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2025. After the transaction, the fund held 257,609 Apple shares with a total market value of $52.85 million as of June 30, 2025.
What else to know
Direction recap: Apple position trimmed; now 1.3% of 13F assets under management as of June 30, 2025
Top holdings after the filing:
JMBS: $462.89 million (11.4% of AUM as of June 30, 2025)
IQLT: $394.78 million (9.7% of AUM as of June 30, 2025)
VTV: $308.90 million (7.62% of AUM as of June 30, 2025)
FTEC: $277.39 million (6.85% of AUM as of June 30, 2025)
SPTI: $237.30 million (5.86% of AUM as of June 30, 2025)
Apple shares were priced at $202.92 as of August 5, 2025, down 7.7% over the past year (252 trading days) and lagging the S&P 500 by 19.69 percentage points.
Dividend yield: 0.47% as of August 6, 2025; forward price/earnings ratio: 29.10 as of August 6, 2025; shares are 17.8% below the 52-week high as of August 6, 2025
Company overview
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Revenue (TTM) | $408.62 billion |
| Net income (TTM) | $99.28 billion |
| Dividend yield | 0.47% |
| One-year price change | (7.70%) |
Company snapshot
Apple generates revenue primarily from sales of iPhone, Mac computers, iPad tablets, wearables such as Apple Watch and AirPods, and a growing suite of services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV+, and Apple Pay.
The company operates a vertically integrated business model, combining hardware, software, and services to create a seamless user ecosystem and recurring revenue streams from device sales, digital content, and subscription services.
Apple targets global consumers, small and mid-sized businesses, and institutional clients across education, enterprise, and government sectors through direct and third-party distribution channels.
Apple is one of the world's largest technology companies by revenue and net income, with a strong focus on innovation, brand loyalty, and integrated product ecosystems. Its strategy leverages a combination of premium hardware, proprietary software, and expanding services to drive customer retention and recurring revenue. The company's scale, global reach, and robust financial performance underpin its competitive advantage in the consumer electronics and digital services markets.
Foolish take
Richard Bernstein Advisors is an investment manager with an exchange-traded fund (ETF) centric approach. Although it holds only 1.3% of its assets in Apple, significantly below the stock's 6% weighting in the S&P 500, this position remains one of the firm's largest equity holdings. This comes even as it sold roughly $5.3 million worth of Apple stock in the second quarter.
The move appears to have been premature as Apple's stock chart has recovered lately.
The long-term case for the stock has long been based on the growing monetization of its base of hardware sales (iPhones, iPads, Macs, etc.) by growing its higher-margin services sales. Not only are its services' sales higher margin (currently with a gross profit margin of about 75% compared to hardware gross margin of about 37%), but they are recurring and on an upward margin trend. The ongoing mid-teens percentage growth is fueling overall margin expansion.
That said, Apple is subject to tariff risk. The company outlined $800 million in tariff-related costs in the third quarter to the end of June. However, that risk appears to have dissipated somewhat recently as CEO Tim Cook's plans to invest an additional $100 billion in American companies and parts (on top of its already existing $500 billion commitment) pleased the Trump administration, and Apple will now be exempt from tariffs on imported semiconductors.
Glossary
13F reportable assets: Securities that investment managers must report quarterly to the SEC if they manage over $100 million.
Assets under management (AUM): The total market value of investments managed on behalf of clients by a fund or firm.
Dividend yield: Annual dividends per share divided by the share price, expressed as a percentage.
Forward price/earnings ratio: A stock's current price divided by its projected earnings per share over the next year.
Vertically integrated business model: A company controls multiple stages of its product's production and distribution process.
Distribution channels: The various ways a company delivers products or services to customers, such as direct sales or third-party retailers.
Quarter (Q2): The second three-month period of a company's fiscal year, often used for financial reporting.
Lagging the S&P 500:Underperforming the S&P 500 index over a given time period.
Proportion of fund AUM: The percentage of a fund's total assets invested in a particular holding.
Recurring revenue streams: Ongoing income generated from repeat sales or subscriptions, rather than one-time transactions.
Institutional clients: Large organizations such as pension funds, endowments, or corporations that invest substantial sums.
TTM: The 12-month period ending with the most recent quarterly report.
