Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Bought by Axecap Investments LLC

Axecap Investments LLC grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 63.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,393 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,660 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 1.5% of Axecap Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Axecap Investments LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. raised its holdings in Apple by 13.2% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.6% in the second quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. now owns 66,967 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,740,000 after purchasing an additional 2,920 shares during the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 17.9% during the second quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 5,404 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 2.2% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its position in 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 buying an additional 465,393 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple News Summary

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 Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $255.78 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $266.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $255.51. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $288.62. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $138.25 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.04% and a return on equity of 159.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.40 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $315.00 price target (down previously from $330.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.13.

Apple 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.