Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Cullen Investment Group LTD.

Cullen Investment Group LTD. decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 195,969 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 15,527 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 6.6% of Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in Apple were worth $50,828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 15,141,995 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 5,224,229 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 1.4% in 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 buying an additional 4,942,638 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,942,255,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $255.63 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 50 day simple moving average is $260.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $263.13. The stock has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.11. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $288.62.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.15%.

Trending Headlines about Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple expanded its U.S. Manufacturing Program with a $400M investment through 2030 to bolster domestic production of critical components — a move that should help supply resilience and long‑term margins. Apple Inc. (AAPL) Expands U.S. Manufacturing Program with $400M Investment
• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush reiterated an Outperform rating and flagged a potential foldable iPhone and WWDC roadmap as major upside catalysts that could reignite product cycles. Wedbush Reiterates Outperform on Apple Inc. (AAPL)
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts point to accelerating services monetization (higher‑margin recurring revenue) and Siri/AI feature tests (multi‑request Siri) as supporting revenue diversification beyond the iPhone. Apple Inc. (AAPL) Focused on Service Monetization to Accelerate Revenue Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple’s 50th anniversary generated broad retrospectives on its franchise and strategy; such coverage supports brand strength but raises scrutiny on AI execution and succession planning. Apple’s 50-year journey from garage to tech titan
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple released a firmware update for AirTag 2 (3.0.45) — routine product maintenance that matters for customer trust but has limited direct impact on revenue. Apple just changed AirTag 2’s anti-stalking feature – 9to5Mac
• Neutral Sentiment: D. E. Shaw trimmed its AAPL holding — a portfolio move that may reflect rebalancing rather than fundamental conviction change. Apple Inc. (AAPL): D. E. Shaw Trims Holding
• Negative Sentiment: Iran’s IRGC publicly threatened U.S. tech firms, including Apple — geopolitical risk can pressure shares via supply‑chain, regional operations or investor risk premia. Iran threatens Nvidia, Apple and other tech giants with attack
• Negative Sentiment: A final court ruling upheld Xiao‑I Corp patents in a dispute with Apple — adverse IP decisions can lead to damages, licensing costs or operational restrictions in key markets. Xiao-I Corp. Wins Final Supreme Court Ruling Upholding Patents in Apple Dispute
• Negative Sentiment: Apple’s fitness chief is retiring amid harassment allegations — a reputational and leadership headwind for the services/wearables business. Apple’s Fitness Chief, Who Was Accused of Harassment, Is Retiring

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America cut their price objective on Apple from $325.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Stephens set a $315.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Barclays lifted their price target on Apple from $239.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $330.00 price target on Apple in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $297.58.

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.