NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC Raises Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 523,378 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,104 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 3.2% of NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $134,236,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. lifted its position in Apple by 13.2% during the second quarter. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. now owns 3,552 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $729,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. Monarch Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. now owns 66,967 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,740,000 after buying an additional 2,920 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 17.9% in the second 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 during the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.2% in the third quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 397,834 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $101,301,000 after buying an additional 8,446 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in Apple by 48.4% during 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 during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group set a $276.47 price objective on Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Loop Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $325.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. One equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.13.

Apple News Roundup

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 Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $255.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap 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. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $266.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $255.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.17. Apple had a net margin of 27.04% and a return on equity of 159.94%. The firm had revenue of $143.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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