As of August 2025, Apple is the third-largest company in the world, coming after Microsoft and Nvidia, and followed by Amazon and Alphabet (Google). The company’s products include the iPhone, iPad, Apple Music, MacBook Air, iMac, Mac Mini, and the infamous iPod, which is no longer in production today.
As a publicly-traded company, Apple is owned by shareholders who have voting rights and receive dividend payouts. But who are the company’s biggest shareholders? Keep reading to learn about Apple’s largest shareholders, including institutional and individual investors.
Apple’s shareholder structure
Apple is one of the most valuable publicly traded companies in the world, with a market cap of $3.164 trillion as of August 2025. The company is owned by numerous shareholders, including both individuals as well as institutions (like investment firms, mutual funds, pension funds, or hedge funds).
Apple’s shares are traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol AAPL, and the company has one class of common stock, which means all shareholders have equal voting rights per share. The majority of Apple’s shares – roughly 63.85% – are held by institutional investors, followed by individual investors and company insiders.
As of August 2025, Apple’s board of directors includes:
- Arthur D. Levinson, Apple’s Chairman of the Board and Founder and CEO of Calico
- Wanda Austin, Ph.D, Former President and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation
- Tim Cook, CEO of Apple
- Alex Gorsky, Former Executive Chair of Johnson & Johnson
- Andrea Jung, President and CEO of Grameen America
- Monica Lozano, Former President and CEO of College Futures Foundation
- Ronald D. Sugar, Ph.D., Former Chair and CEO of Northrop Grumman Corporation
- Susan L. Wagner, Co-Founder and Director of BlackRock.
Overview of Apple’s outstanding shares
Total number of Apple shares
Apple had approximately 15.056 billion shares outstanding as of March 31, 2025, down from 15.408 billion the previous year. This represents the total number of Apple shares currently held by all shareholders, including institutional investors, individual investors, and company insiders. This excludes treasury shares the company has repurchased and not reissued.
Thanks to an aggressive share buyback program, one of the largest in corporate history, Apple has consistently reduced its total shares outstanding over the past decade. This boosts earnings per share (EPS) and returns more value to shareholders.
Here’s a breakdown of Apple’s outstanding shares over the last few years:
- Q1 2025: 15.065 billion shares, down 2.64% YoY
- 2024: 15.408 billion shares, down 2.56% YoY
- 2023: 15.813 billion shares, down 3.14% YoY
- 2022: 16.326 billion shares, down 3.20% YoY.
Largest institutional shareholders of Apple
Apple’s stock is held by some of the largest institutional investors in the world. As of March 31, 2025, the top institutional shareholders of Apple were:
| INSTITUTION | SHARES HELD | % OF OUTSTANDING SHARES | VALUATION (USD) |
| Vanguard Group Inc. | 1.4 billion | 9.44% | $298.7 billion |
| BlackRock Inc. | 1.14 billion | 7.68% | $243.1 billion |
| State Street | 596 million | 4.02% | $127.1 billion |
| Corporation | |||
| Geode Capital Management, LLC | 349.8 million | 2.36% | $74.6 billion |
| FMR LLC (Fidelity) | 328.1 million | 2.21% | $70.0 billion |
Data from Yahoo! Finance
Vanguard Group Inc.
Apple’s largest institutional shareholder is Vanguard, holding 1.4 billion shares as of March 31, 2025, or about 9.44% of Apple’s total outstanding shares.
Vanguard is a global investment management company. It's the world's largest issuer of mutual funds and second-largest of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). As of March 31, 2025, Vanguard has more than 50 million investors and $10.1 trillion in assets under management (AUM).
BlackRock Inc.
The second-largest Apple shareholder is BlackRock, who owns around 1.14 billion shares, representing 7.68% of shares outstanding.
BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, with $11.6 trillion AUM globally as of 31 March, 2025. One of BlackRock’s largest ETFs is the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV), which holds $644 billion in net assets as of August 2025, with Apple amongst its top 3 holdings.
State Street Corporation
Apple’s third-largest shareholder is State Street Corporation, which holds 596 million shares, or about 4.02% of the total outstanding.
State Street is one of the world's largest asset managers and custodians, serving primarily institutional investors. At the end of 2024, the company held $4.7 trillion in AUM, with total revenues of $2.3 billion.
Geode Capital Management, LLC
Geode holds approximately 349.8 million Apple shares, equal to about 2.36% of outstanding shares.
The global investment firm acts as a sub-advisor for Fidelity Investments' registered funds and also manages assets for institutional and retail investors. As of June 2025, Geode Capital holds $1.7 trillion in AUM across 85 global exchanges.
FMR LLC (Fidelity)
FMR LLC is Apple’s fifth-largest shareholder, holding 328.1 million shares or 2.21% of the company’s total.
FMR LLC is the parent company of Fidelity Investments, a global financial services company that offers brokerage, investment management, retirement, and other services. Fidelity is one of the largest asset managers in the world, with $15 trillion of assets under administration as of March 31, 2025, and 4.5 million daily average trades by customers.
Largest individual shareholders of Apple
Besides institutional and retail investors, many of Apple’s top executives and board members hold substantial equity stakes in the company. These are known as ‘insiders’, and they often acquire shares through performance-based compensation, stock options, or long-term incentive plans to help align their financial interests with shareholders.
As of early 2025, these are some of the largest individual shareholders of Apple Inc.:
| INDIVIDUAL | POSITION | SHARES OWNED (AS OF JAN. 2025) |
| Arthur Levinson | Chairman of the Board | 4,217,092 |
| Tim Cook | Chief Executive Officer | 3,280,180 |
| Jeff Williams | Chief Operating Officer | 389,944 |
| Katherine Adams | Senior Vice President (VP) & General Counsel | 179,158 |
| Deirdre O’Brien | Senior VP of Retail + HR | 171,508 |
Data from Yahoo! Finance
Arthur Levinson (Chairman)
Arthur Levinson is Apple’s largest individual shareholder, with more than 4.2 million shares held as of January 2025. He has served as Apple’s Chairman of the Board since 2011.
Levinson is a respected figure in biotechnology and formerly led Genentech Inc. as CEO. He's also the CEO of Calico, a biotech company backed by Alphabet that focuses on health and aging.
Tim Cook (Chief Executive Officer)
Tim Cook is Apple’s second-largest individual shareholder, holding 3.28 million shares as of January 2025.
Cook has been Apple’s CEO since 2011, and prior to that he was the company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), overseeing global sales and operations. Much of Cook’s compensation is tied to the company’s stock performance, particularly through restricted stock units (RSUs) that vest depending on how well Apple performs against the S&P 500.
Jeff Williams (Chief Operating Officer)
Jeff Williams is Apple’s third-largest individual shareholder, with 389,944 shares as of January 2025.
As COO, Williams plays a central role in managing Apple’s global supply chain and product operations. He also oversaw the development of Apple Watch as well as the company’s health-related initiatives. Before taking on the role of COO, Williams held several positions in Apple, including Head of Worldwide Procurement. He also held multiple roles in IBM prior to joining Apple.
Other top individual shareholders
Besides the top 5 individual Apple shareholders mentioned in the above table, other notable individual shareholders include:
- Andrea Jung, Director with 76,005 shares
- Susan Wagner, Director with 68,533 shares
- Kevan Parekh, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), with 4,569 shares.
How institutional ownership impacts Apple stock
With nearly 64% of Apple stock being held by institutional investors, it’s natural to wonder how these institutions impact the company’s stock.
Institutional impact on stock prices
First, let’s talk about the impact of institutional ownership on Apple stock prices. Institutional investors represent a significant portion of daily trading volume and their trades often involve millions of shares at once. If a large fund was to increase or decrease its position in Apple, it could trigger substantial price swings.
On top of that, many of Apple’s top institutional investors also manage passive funds and ETFs that track major indices like the S&P 500 and NASDAQ-100. These funds automatically adjust their holdings when the index weightings change, new shares are issued or repurchased, or Apple’s valuation fluctuates relative to other index members.
These periodic rebalancings can lead to large inflows or outflows of capital. For example, when Apple’s weight in an index increases, passive funds must buy more shares to maintain balance, therefore driving additional demand for Apple stock.
Institutional impact on strategy
Beyond price impacts, Apple’s institutional shareholders also help guide the company’s corporate strategy. Firms like Vanguard and BlackRock emphasize long-term value creation, which might include encouraging Apple to focus on profitability or efficient use of capital. One example of this influence is Apple’s ongoing stock buyback program, which totaled nearly $95 billion in 2024. These buybacks reduce the number of outstanding shares and boost shareholder value.
