Financial Enhancement Group LLC Purchases 4,287 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Financial Enhancement Group LLC increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,972 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,287 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 2.0% of Financial Enhancement Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Financial Enhancement Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $14,960,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 1.1% in the 2nd 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 during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Apple by 0.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $72,506,336,000 after buying an additional 4,942,638 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in Apple by 573,627.2% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after buying an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,942,255,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price target (up previously from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Moffett Nathanson upgraded shares of Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Melius Research set a $345.00 price target on Apple in a report on Friday, October 31st. HSBC set a $220.00 price target on Apple and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $283.92.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $273.59 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $272.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $241.25. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $288.62. The company has a market cap of $4.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a net margin of 26.92% and a return on equity of 164.05%. The business had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 13.92%.

Apple News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple released a new AI model, sparking renewed optimism that the company can commercialize AI features across iPhone and services — a growth catalyst investors are rewarding. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: A federal judge blocked Texas’s app store age‑verification law, and Apple announced it will pause changes tied to that law — removing near‑term compliance costs and legal uncertainty for iOS distribution. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street momentum: multiple firms have recently issued buy/overweight calls and raised price targets (median ~$305), and sector bulls (e.g., Wedbush) include Apple among 2026 AI winners — analyst upgrades/support help lift sentiment and flows. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple agreed to allow third‑party app stores in Brazil as part of a settlement — a structural change that could pressure App Store revenue over time but also resolves a regulatory dispute now. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Market data on December short interest shows anomalies/zero values (likely a reporting error) — not a meaningful signal for intraday moves. (Source: short‑interest entries)
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal headwinds: reports flagged a €~? / $115M fine in Italy for alleged app‑market issues and ongoing scrutiny — small relative to Apple’s scale but a reminder of regulatory risk. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling activity remains elevated (multiple execs have sold shares in recent months) — creates modest negative headline risk and can weigh on sentiment even as fundamentals remain strong. Article Title

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total value of $1,038,790.61. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,168,373.35. The trade was a 32.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.