LVW Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Free Report) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 140,686 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,714 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 3.9% of LVW Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $38,247,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Overbrook Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 57.4% during the fourth quarter. Overbrook Management Corp now owns 104,648 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $28,449,000 after acquiring an additional 38,174 shares in the last quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the second quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. now owns 66,967 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,740,000 after acquiring an additional 2,920 shares in the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.2% during the third quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 397,834 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $101,301,000 after acquiring an additional 8,446 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $363,256,000 after acquiring an additional 465,393 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tufton Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.3% during the third quarter. Tufton Capital Management now owns 100,130 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $25,496,000 after acquiring an additional 4,157 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. KGI Securities upgraded Apple to an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Barclays raised their price target on Apple from $239.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $301.23.
Apple Trading Down 2.1%
Apple stock opened at $253.50 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $288.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.72 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s fifty day moving average is $260.64 and its 200 day moving average is $263.76.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 EPS 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 company had revenue of $143.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $138.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.
Apple Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.15%.
Key Headlines Impacting Apple
Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Apple joined Anthropic, Microsoft, Amazon and Nvidia in Project Glasswing, a security-focused AI collaboration—this underscores Apple’s participation in enterprise-grade AI/security initiatives and supports its strategy of privacy-integrated AI features. Anthropic Teams With Apple, Microsoft And Nvidia To Test Latest Cybersecurity Tech
- Positive Sentiment: Supply-chain evidence of an AI/hardware cycle is benefiting Apple’s ecosystem: Foxconn’s strong revenue tied to AI demand and reports of elevated Mac Mini orders for on-device AI support point to durable hardware demand beyond any single product. Foxconn Revenue Surges 30% Thanks To AI Boom
- Positive Sentiment: Apple’s MacBook Neo and continued strength in iPhone 17/Mac Mini sales provide alternative growth levers (ecosystem expansion, cheaper device top-of-funnel and high‑margin services), which help cushion the stock against hardware-specific setbacks. Apple’s stock could surge 20%, and the MacBook Neo could be a key catalyst
- Positive Sentiment: Wall Street checks (KeyBanc, Evercore/others) note improving demand signals heading into earnings, which supports the view that near-term headline risk may be temporary versus structural revenue weakness. Is Apple Stock (AAPL) a Buy Ahead of Earnings as Demand Picks Up? KeyBanc Weighs In
- Neutral Sentiment: Bloomberg/TechCrunch reported the foldable iPhone is still targeted for a September launch—this counter-report helped intraday recovery and highlights mixed sourcing; investors must weigh Nikkei’s earlier claims vs. Bloomberg’s. Apple’s foldable iPhone is on track to launch in September, report says
- Neutral Sentiment: Apple filed to seek Supreme Court review in its long-running App Store dispute with Epic—potentially a material legal outcome over time, but an uncertain and prolonged process. Apple plans Supreme Court appeal in Epic Games App Store battle — again
- Negative Sentiment: Multiple outlets (Nikkei, Reuters, Nikkei-sourced stories) reported engineering snags in the foldable iPhone’s testing—hinge and screen durability issues that could push shipments back months. That narrative is the primary near-term reason shares are lower as it threatens a major hardware catalyst. Apple’s foldable iPhone encounters engineering snags, faces potential shipment delays
- Negative Sentiment: China’s Supreme People’s Court upheld key AI patents for Xiao‑I in a dispute with Apple—this raises regulatory and IP risk in a critical market and has already moved investor attention to potential costs or feature limitations in China. Xiao-I (AIXI) Stock Explodes Over 500% Following Major Chinese Supreme Court Victory Against Apple
- Negative Sentiment: App Store growth has slowed (UBS flagged March quarter trends), and any sustained services cooling would pressure valuation since services underpin Apple’s margin resilience. Apple Holds Steady: UBS Keeps Neutral Rating as App Store Growth Slows to 7% in March Quarter
Insider Buying and Selling at Apple
In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total value of $16,511,984.27. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 30,002 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.35, for a total value of $7,661,010.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,810 shares in the company, valued at $34,934,433.50. The trade was a 17.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.
About Apple
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.
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