CWA Asset Management Group LLC Increases Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 557,270 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 13,635 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 5.5% of CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $151,499,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Monarch Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Apple by 4.6% during the second quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. now owns 66,967 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,740,000 after acquiring an additional 2,920 shares in the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 17.9% in 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 grew its position in shares of Apple by 2.2% in the 3rd 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 period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in shares of Apple by 48.4% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Tufton Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Apple by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tufton Capital Management now owns 100,130 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $25,496,000 after purchasing an additional 4,157 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple is pushing into new ad and services revenue channels — launching the Apple Business platform (Apr. 14) and rolling out paid ads in Apple Maps (U.S./Canada this summer), which could lift Services revenue and diversify monetization. Apple to bring paid ads to maps to US, Canada this summer
• Positive Sentiment: AI and assistant upgrades remain a strategic focus — reports say Apple is testing a standalone Siri app and an “Ask Siri” AI agent, and AirPods Max 2 includes Apple Intelligence features. These moves bolster Apple’s AI narrative and ecosystem stickiness ahead of WWDC. Apple Readies Introduction of AI Agent-Like Siri
• Positive Sentiment: Major broker/analyst attention and investor interest are rising — Morgan Stanley issued an Overweight and Apple recently became the most-searched stock on Zacks, signalling renewed institutional and retail focus. Apple Surpasses Nvidia as the Most Popular Stock on Zacks.com: Time to Buy AAPL? Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Earns Overweight Rating from Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Software updates and minor product launches (iOS 26.4, AI playlists, other UI tweaks) maintain ecosystem engagement but are unlikely to move revenue materially in the near term. Apple launches iOS 26.4 with AI playlists, purchase sharing, and more – The Verge
• Neutral Sentiment: Third-party and developer activity on the App Store continues (e.g., TAP Invest added to App Store), which underscores platform health but is not a company-specific catalyst. TAP, Inc. Launches TAP Invest Mobile App on the Apple App Store
• Neutral Sentiment: WWDC scheduled for June 8 is a near-term event that typically provides software/AI roadmaps — a potential catalyst but not a guaranteed positive. Apple to host June developer conference online with AI updates
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory-driven changes in the U.K. (age verification for many Apple services) have introduced near-term volatility and could add friction to service usage/revenue in that market. Markets showed a volatile reaction premarket to the rollout. Apple rolls out UK age checks for iPhone users Apple stock volatile premarket after rolling out UK age verification
• Negative Sentiment: China data shows shipments of foreign-branded phones (including iPhones) fell ~7.7% year-over-year in February — a reminder of near-term demand softness in Apple’s second-largest market. February shipments of foreign-branded phones in China fall 7.7% from a year ago, CAICT data shows

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $325.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Scotiabank set a $330.00 price target on Apple in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $330.00 price objective on Apple in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $297.58.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $252.62 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $260.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $262.46. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $288.62. The firm has a market cap of $3.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.15%.

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.