10 Largest Apple Shareholders: Who Owns the Most AAPL Stock in 2024?

For owners of Apple (AAPL), a technology and consumer electronic giant, September 2024 gave lots of hope as the company released its new iPhone 16 lineup powered by Apple Intelligence. However, it’s yet to be seen whether the popularity of new iPhones with multiple AI features will boost AAPL’s share price further. As of September 16, it has risen 20% year-to-date.

Apple has an incredibly strong brand that sells itself and stellar financial performance, which has secured the firm a $3.3 trillion market capitalization, making it the world’s most valuable corporation.

In the third quarter of 2024 ended June 29, Apple reported an all-time revenue record of $85.8 billion, up 5% from a year ago. According to Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO, record business performance generated EPS growth of 11% and almost $29 billion in operating cash flow, allowing the company to return over $32 billion to shareholders.

Tim Cook, CEO and one of Apple’s biggest shareholders, commented on the company’s latest quarterly results on August 1, 2024:

“During the quarter, we were excited to announce incredible updates to our software platforms at our Worldwide Developers Conference, including Apple Intelligence, a breakthrough personal intelligence system that puts powerful, private generative AI models at the core of iPhone, iPad, and Mac.”

In this article, we closely examine Apple’s major stakeholders and how many AAPL shares they own. We explore Apple’s ownership structure and find out who owns the most Apple stock.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. Who Owns the Most Shares of Apple in 2024?
3. Learn More About Apple's Ownership
4. The Bottom Line
5. FAQs
6. References

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. Who Owns the Most Shares of Apple in 2024?
3. Learn More About Apple's Ownership
Show Full Guide
4. The Bottom Line
5. FAQs
6. References

Who Owns the Most Shares of Apple in 2024?

Apple has become the world’s most valuable companies based on market capitalization, drawing a diverse range of individual and institutional investors.

Historical Apple stock performance highlights the story of the company’s success.

Note that past performance is not indicative of future results.

Top 5 Largest Institutional Shareholders

1. Vanguard Group – 1,324,970,227 – 8.52%

Vanguard Group, the world’s second-largest asset manager, is Apple’s largest shareholder among institutional investors.

According to Vanguard Group’s latest SEC filing on August 13, 2024, the company disclosed the ownership of 1,324,970,227 shares of Apple as of July 30, 2024. This represents 8.5% ownership of the company.

Apple is Vanguard’s top holding, comprising 5.5% of its entire investment portfolio as of Q2 2024.

Vanguard has a unique shareholder structure, owned by the investors in its funds rather than by public shareholders. As of July 2024, Vanguard offered 423 funds worldwide, according to the company’s website.

2. Blackrock – 1,050,215,752 – 6.75%

Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, ranks as the second-largest shareholder of Apple.

On August 13, 2024, BlackRock Inc. filed an SC 13G/A form with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosing ownership of 1,050,215,752 shares of Apple. This represents 6.7% ownership of the company.

Over the past decade, Blackrock, based in New York City, has significantly increased its investment in the tech giant. In Q4 2013, Apple wasn’t even among Blackrock’s top 10 holdings, with just 2.3 million shares valued at $1.29 million. At that time, Bank of America (BAC) was Blackrock’s largest holding.

However, by the second quarter of 2024, Apple ownership has become Blackrock’s second-largest investment, making up 5.1% of its total portfolio.

3. State Street Corporation – 528,075,179 – 3.39%

State Street Corporation, based in Massachusetts, is the third-largest shareholder of Apple, owning 586,075,179 million shares, as of Q2 2024.

Valued at $111,221,789 billion based on the June 30 closing price, this stake represents 3.39% of Apple’s outstanding stock.

State Street is the parent entity of State Street Global Advisor, ranked as the world’s fourth-largest asset manager.

4. Berkshire Hathaway – 400,000,000 – 2.57%

Apple has become a favored investment for Warren Buffet, who is renowned for his strategic financial moves.

Since Berkshire Hathaway first acquired a stake in Apple in Q1 2016 with 9.81 million shares, it has significantly increased its holdings.

As of Q2 2024, Berkshire Hathaway owns 400,000,000 Apple shares, which makes it the top company’s investment. This stake makes Berkshire Hathaway the fourth Apple largest shareholder, accounting for 2.57% of the company’s outstanding stock.

5. FMR – 345,635,357 – 2.22%

FMR is Apple’s fifth-largest shareholder, owning 345,635,357 million AAPL shares as of June 30, 2024. This accounts for 2.22% ownership of Apple’s outstanding stock.

This makes Apple stock Geode’s third-largest investment, following Nvidia (NVDA) and Microsoft (MSFT) and in terms of value.

Top 5 Largest Individual Shareholders

Despite several executives being major Apple shareholders, their collective holdings in AAPL stock are less than 1% of the total outstanding stock. As of January 2023, 13 Apple executives and directors together owned only 0.6% of the company’s stock.

Let’s look into who the stakeholders of Apple are today and define the top five biggest individual Apple owners.

1. Arthur D. Levinson – 4,359,576 – 0.028%

Contrary to common belief, Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, is not the company’s largest individual shareholder.

Arthur Levinson is Apple’s largest individual shareholder, owning 4.35 million shares as of May 30, 2024. His stake accounts for only 0.028% of Apple’s total outstanding stock.

Levinson chairs Apple’s board and is also the co-founder and CEO of Calico, an Alphabet Inc. subsidiary. He previously served as a director at Google and as CEO of Genentech.

2. Tim Cook – 3,280,180 – 0.021%

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, is the company’s second-largest individual shareholder, with 3.28 million shares as of April 2024, representing 0.021% of the total stock.

Cook, who became CEO in August 2011, shortly before Steve Jobs’ death, was Jobs’ recommended successor. He had been acting CEO since January 2011, during Jobs’ illness.

Before becoming CEO, Cook was Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, managing global sales and operations.

3. Jeffrey Williams – 489,944 – 0.003%

Jeff Williams, who joined Apple in 1998, is the company’s Chief Operating Officer. He oversees global operations, customer service, and support.

As of April 11, 2024, Williams owns 489,944 Apple shares.

4. Katherine L. Adams – 187,043 – 0.001%

Katherine Adams, Apple’s general counsel and senior vice president of Legal and Global Security, is the fourth of the top five Apple largest individual investors with 187,043 AAPL shares in ownership as of August 2024.

Kate joined Apple in 2017 and is currently a member of the company’s executive team and oversees all legal matters, including corporate governance, intellectual property, litigation and securities compliance, global security, and privacy.

5. Deirdre O’Brien – 136,572 – 0.0008%

Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail, closes the list of the top five Apple largest individual investors with 136,572 AAPL shares as of April 2024.

An Apple veteran of more than 30 years, Deirdre previously managed the People team, in addition to Retail.

Learn More About Apple’s Ownership

Apple’s ownership structure has undergone significant changes in the 37 years since its inception.

Who Funded Apple in Its Early Days?

Mike Markkula’s contribution to Apple’s early success is often overshadowed by the more famous names of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Yet, without this American businessman’s involvement, Apple’s iconic computer might never have launched.

In 1977, Markkula, a former Intel employee who had become a millionaire, invested $250,000 in Apple, acquiring a 30% stake in the company. His role extended beyond financial support; he played a crucial part in managing Apple during its formative years. This included developing a business plan and recruiting the first CEO for Apple.

Markkula’s tenure at Apple lasted until 1997, during which he witnessed Steve Jobs’ departure in 1985 and his notable return in 1997.

The Role of Institutional Investors

Apple’s initial institutional shareholders are not clearly documented, but by delving into the company’s proxy filings from 1994, we can gain some insight. As of November 30, 1994, the only institutional shareholder listed was the Capital Group.

This company, known as one of the oldest and largest investment management organizations globally, held a significant stake in Apple at that time. Their holdings amounted to 11.84 million shares, which constituted 9.8% of Apple’s total outstanding stock.

By 2010, Blackrock and Fidelity Investment had become key Apple shareholders, with Blackrock holding 5.50% (50.65 million shares) and Fidelity 5.04% (46.41 million shares) of the total stock. However, by late 2015, Vanguard Group emerged as Apple’s largest shareholder, owning nearly 6% of the company with 332.24 million shares.

Berkshire Hathaway became one of Apple’s biggest shareholders in 2020, a significant endorsement given Warren Buffett’s reputation for shrewd investments and his traditional avoidance of technology stocks.

This shift coincided with Tim Cook’s impactful leadership at Apple, which saw the company’s market capitalization soar from $358 billion in August 2011 to $1 trillion in 2018, and then to an unprecedented $3 trillion by 2022.

Buffett’s investment in Apple, beginning in 2016, highlighted the company’s profitability and aligns with his investment criteria: a strong brand, low debt, and solid management.

In May 2023, during Berkshire Hathaway’s Annual Shareholders Meeting, Buffett even praised Apple as a “better business than ours,” reflecting his confidence in Apple’s investment value.

Buffett noted that Berkshire Hathaway was “very, very, very happy to have 5.6 (%) or whatever it may be percent of Apple.”

Apple’s Ownership Structure

When retail investors consider buying company stock, they often take into account the proportion of institutional shareholders, like pension funds and insurance companies, who tend to make more cautious investment decisions.

For Apple, nearly 61% of its stock is held by institutional investors, while insiders own less than 1% as of April 2024.

This contrasts with other companies: Sonos leads in institutional ownership with 90%, Vizio has 66% institutional ownership with a majority held by retail investors, and Sony is predominantly owned by public companies and individual investors (97%), with only 2% held by institutions.

The Bottom Line

Understanding a company’s ownership structure and identifying its primary shareholders are crucial for retail investors to assess its growth potential.

This knowledge not only helps in evaluating the company’s future prospects but also in determining whether its management is capable of guiding it in the right direction.

For a company like Apple, having a substantial proportion of reputable institutional shareholders has been instrumental in maintaining its growth trajectory.

FAQs