Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Bought by Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 48.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,426,605 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 465,393 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 5.0% of Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Apple were worth $363,256,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 1.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,415,932,804 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $290,506,933,000 after acquiring an additional 15,141,995 shares during the period. 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $72,506,336,000 after purchasing an additional 4,942,638 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,942,255,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Apple by 13.3% during 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 period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 target price (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. KGI Securities upgraded shares of Apple to an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, October 31st. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $291.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,095,030.54. This trade represents a 19.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $269.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.07, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $288.62. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $268.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $252.84.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 159.94% and a net margin of 27.04%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is 13.15%.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong fundamentals and analyst support — Wall Street analysts are reiterating buys and raising price targets after Apple’s strong quarter and iPhone 17 demand, which underpins revenue and margin upside. Apple Inc.: Reaffirmed Buy on Strengthening Services Ecosystem and Broad-Based App Store Recovery
• Positive Sentiment: AI/tooling integration that can boost developer ecosystem — Apple added agentic coding support (Anthropic’s Claude Agent and OpenAI’s Codex) to Xcode, which could accelerate app development and stickiness in the App Store over time. Apple adds agents from Anthropic and OpenAI to its coding tool
• Positive Sentiment: Sentiment drivers and media endorsements — high-profile bullish commentary (e.g., Jim Cramer) and inflows into innovation ETFs that include Apple support near‑term momentum and investor confidence. Jim Cramer Says “I Think Apple’s Quarter Was Fantastic and Its Future Remains Bright”
• Neutral Sentiment: Content/brand initiatives — Apple TV+ will debut Mattel’s “Matchbox The Movie” in October; small for near‑term revenues but supports services/brand extension. Apple TV sets October launch for Mattel’s ‘Matchbox’ car movie
• Neutral Sentiment: Market chatter and unusual data points — several feeds report odd/zero short‑interest figures for February (likely data noise) and high search/activity around AAPL; useful for gauging retail attention but not a direct fundamental catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: AI talent drain — reports Apple has lost several AI researchers to Meta and Google, which raises execution risk for long‑term AI initiatives versus better-funded rivals. Apple Loses More AI Researchers to Meta and Google
• Negative Sentiment: Supply competition from AI chip demand — TSMC capacity is being stretched by Nvidia’s AI ramp, which could pressure Apple’s manufacturing cadence or component availability if capacity constraints persist. Nvidia’s AI Takeover Leaves Apple Fighting for Supply

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.