Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Acquired by Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. boosted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,264,285 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 35,018 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 6.1% of Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Apple were worth $321,924,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.1% during 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 buying an additional 15,141,995 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Apple by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $123,358,461,000 after acquiring an additional 5,224,229 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $72,506,336,000 after acquiring an additional 4,942,638 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth $38,942,255,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $255.53 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $271.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $249.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.89. 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, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a net margin of 26.92% and a return on equity of 164.05%. The company had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 13.92%.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s long-term AI strategy shifted toward a major deal with Google’s Gemini to power the next-generation Siri and Apple Intelligence — a faster route to competitive AI features that could boost services engagement and stickiness. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Apple TV+ is showing momentum and is highlighted as a growing threat to Netflix, which supports the case for accelerating services revenue and margin diversification beyond hardware. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple remains a core holding inside mega-cap / AI-heavy ETFs that outperformed in 2025; that structural demand supports liquidity and index flows but isn’t a direct company-specific catalyst. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Proposed U.S. bill to expand veteran training in emerging tech names Apple among potential beneficiaries (more skilled talent in semiconductors/AI over time) — long-term, indirect. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: India issued a final warning that it will proceed with an antitrust case after delays in Apple’s responses — a move that raises regulatory and large‑fine risk in a key market. That adds tangible downside risk to investor sentiment. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Cathie Wood’s ARK and other commentators argue Apple’s reliance on Google for core AI models signals strategic weakness — this critique is amplifying short‑term sell‑side debate about Apple’s independence on AI and could pressure the stock. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Memory and storage price spikes are creating headwinds for hardware makers; rising component costs could compress iPhone and Mac margins if Apple cannot fully pass them through. Read More.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, January 12th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $180.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Apple from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective (up previously from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $284.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,098 shares in the company, valued at $4,095,030.54. This represents a 19.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.