Apple Inc. $AAPL Position Lowered by Violich Capital Management Inc.

Violich Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 213,667 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 8,747 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 6.5% of Violich Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Violich Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $54,406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 13.2% during the second quarter. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. now owns 3,552 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $729,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. now owns 66,967 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,740,000 after buying an additional 2,920 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 17.9% during the 2nd quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 5,404 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,109,000 after buying an additional 819 shares in the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 397,834 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $101,301,000 after buying an additional 8,446 shares during the period. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in shares of Apple by 48.4% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 1,426,605 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $363,256,000 after acquiring an additional 465,393 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Phillip Securities raised Apple from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $325.00 price objective on Apple in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.13.

Key Stories Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong iPhone momentum and quarter results — iPhone 17 sales and overall revenue remained robust, supporting fundamentals and cushioning the pullback. Zacks: Strong iPhone Sales
• Positive Sentiment: Legal victory removes a potential multi‑hundred‑million dollar liability — a U.S. jury rejected Optis Wireless’ 4G patent claims, reducing near-term litigation risk. Benzinga: Optis Verdict
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support — Sanford C. Bernstein raised its price target, reflecting confidence in Apple’s growth trajectory and giving investors a bullish reference point. Bernstein PT Raise
• Neutral Sentiment: Content and services moves — Apple acquired full rights to the hit show “Severance” and added YouTube to Vision Pro, which are strategically positive for services but unlikely to move near‑term earnings materially. TechCrunch: Severance Deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Major shareholder cash flow note — Berkshire Hathaway received a large Apple dividend, underscoring Apple’s cash returns but also spotlighting Berkshire’s large position dynamics. Finbold: Berkshire Dividend
• Negative Sentiment: Siri AI upgrade delays and testing problems — reports that the Siri overhaul is running into accuracy and speed problems forced Apple to push features back, directly hitting the AI narrative investors were pricing in. CNBC: Siri Delay / Market Reaction
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk from FTC letter over Apple News — the FTC chair urged review of Apple News curation amid accusations of political bias, adding regulatory/legal uncertainty and headline risk. NYT: FTC Letter
• Negative Sentiment: Fund flow and institutional trimming amid sector pressure — several funds reduced Apple exposure and broader “Magnificent Seven” weakness amplified the selloff, raising short‑term downside pressure. Barron’s: Institutional Moves

Apple Trading Down 2.3%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $255.78 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $266.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $255.82. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $288.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $3.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.17. Apple had a net margin of 27.04% and a return on equity of 159.94%. The company had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $138.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is 13.15%.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.

Apple’s principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.