Apple Inc. $AAPL Holdings Increased by U S Wealth Group LLC.

U S Wealth Group LLC. increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,428 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,921 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 4.7% of U S Wealth Group LLC.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. U S Wealth Group LLC.’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,239,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 1.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,415,932,804 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $290,506,933,000 after purchasing an additional 15,141,995 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $123,358,461,000 after buying an additional 5,224,229 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $72,506,336,000 after buying an additional 4,942,638 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth approximately $38,942,255,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $325.00 price objective on Apple in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $330.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $297.58.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $254.23 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.14, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $288.62. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $261.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $262.04.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple acquired MotionVFX to expand Final Cut Pro plugins and the Creator Studio bundle — a move aimed at monetizing pro creative tools and boosting Services/subscriptions over time. Apple acquires video editing software company MotionVFX
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore reaffirmed Outperform after Apple refreshed its MacBook lineup with M5 chips — product refresh + positive analyst support can underwrite upside expectations for hardware revenue and margins. Apple (AAPL) Launches New MacBook Lineup with M5 Chips, Evercore Reaffirms Outperform
• Positive Sentiment: Apple launched AirPods Max 2 — a premium product refresh that typically supports near‑term hardware revenue and helps maintain Apple’s pricing power in accessories. Market reports tied the new model to a modest intraday stock lift. Apple unveils second-generation AirPods Max
• Positive Sentiment: Beats partnered with Nike on co‑branded earbuds — incremental branding/hardware collaboration that can help wearables/accessories sales and cross‑sell within Apple’s ecosystem. Nike partners with Apple’s Beats
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple cut App Store commission rates in mainland China from 30% to 25% for in‑app purchases — analysts say this will meaningfully help margins for major Chinese app/game publishers (Tencent, NetEase). For Apple, the change supports the developer ecosystem and regulatory relations but is a modest headwind to Services revenue in that market. Apple fee cut to boost Tencent, NetEase margins in China, analysts say
• Negative Sentiment: Prediction‑market chatter that Tim Cook could exit before 2027 has circulated — such governance speculation can increase short‑term volatility even though Cook has publicly pushed back. Investors dislike leadership uncertainty. Tim Cook To Exit As Apple CEO Before 2027? Here’s What Prediction Market Is Saying
• Negative Sentiment: Public criticism from high‑profile developers/CEOs (Elon Musk calling iOS app review delays “ridiculous”) highlights developer friction — negative PR that could pressure perception around App Store developer experience and platform risk. Elon Musk Has One Word for This Apple Problem: ‘Ridiculous’

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.