Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. Sells 66,000 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 914,700 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 66,000 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 2.5% of Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $232,910,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at $38,942,255,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the first quarter worth about $17,472,482,000. PKS Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Apple by 98,917.0% during the second quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC now owns 57,956,620 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,106,000 after acquiring an additional 57,898,088 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 20,464.8% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,069,029 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,553,753,000 after purchasing an additional 26,937,401 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple is rolling out an integrated video-podcast experience (audio ↔ video switching) and lining up distribution partners (Acast), expanding services revenue and competing with YouTube/Spotify — a clear product/service catalyst. Apple takes on YouTube and Spotify with a new video podcast push
• Positive Sentiment: Apple has invited media to a March 4 product launch, giving investors a near-term event (new devices) that could drive upgrades and sentiment if hardware surprises meet expectations. Apple Preps for March 4 Product Launch
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional buying: Soros Fund Management and Adventist Health System Sunbelt reportedly increased Apple stakes, signaling confidence from some large investors. Soros Fund Management boosts Apple stake with 66,503 shares
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple shares are trading below average analyst price targets after a recent pullback — this highlights potential upside if fundamentals hold, but also shows a gap between analysts and market pricing. Apple (AAPL) Trading 10% Below Analyst Targets After This Week’s 8% Drop
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data reported for mid-February appears anomalous/zeroed out — not a clear signal of growing bearish positioning based on the available report. (Data note; interpret cautiously.)
• Negative Sentiment: Market concern about Apple’s Siri/AI timeline intensified after reports described a delayed Siri AI upgrade as a “shocker,” raising fears about Apple falling behind rivals in generative-AI voice assistants — a driver of today’s negative sentiment. Apple’s Siri shocker is flashing a warning AAPL bulls can’t ignore
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst and media commentary framed the recent pullback as a “falling knife” after the Siri delay, amplifying short-term selling pressure and cautious positioning among traders. Apple Stock Forecast — Should You Catch this Falling Knife?
• Negative Sentiment: Portfolio moves and hedge-fund activity: Maverick Capital trimmed Apple, and reports of high-profile insider/office sales (e.g., Pelosi trades reported by media) are adding to near-term selling narrative. Maverick Capital Cuts Apple Position as Lee Ainslie Trims

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $315.00 target price (down previously from $330.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Scotiabank set a $330.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $325.00 target price (up previously from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Maxim Group raised Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.13.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $255.78 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.34, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.09. 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 $266.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $256.48.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Investors 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 yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is 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.