Apple Inc. $AAPL Stock Position Increased by Plan Group Financial LLC

Plan Group Financial LLC increased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 54.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,662 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 9,089 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 1.8% of Plan Group Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Plan Group Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $290,506,933,000 after purchasing an additional 15,141,995 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 0.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $123,358,461,000 after buying an additional 5,224,229 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,942,255,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Phillip Securities raised shares of Apple from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. Melius Research set a $345.00 price target on Apple in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $291.70.

More Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple preparing to allow third‑party voice AI/chatbots (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude) in CarPlay — a strategic shift that could boost in‑car services, user engagement and partnerships across the AI ecosystem. Apple plans to allow external voice-controlled AI chatbots in CarPlay
• Positive Sentiment: Strong Q1 results (higher‑than‑expected revenue and EPS, large iPhone sales) continue to support investor confidence and explain why AAPL is outperforming many Big Tech peers after the AI‑led sell‑off.
• Positive Sentiment: EU says Apple Ads and Apple Maps should not be designated under the Digital Markets Act — avoids potential regulatory constraints and commercial disruption in Europe. Apple Ads and Apple Maps should not be designated under Digital Markets Act, says EU
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support and bullish price targets remain — several firms have reiterated Outperform/Overweight calls and above‑consensus targets (median recent target ~$310), underpinning investor interest. Evercore ISI stays Outperform on Apple
• Positive Sentiment: Inclusion in new Big Tech ETF offerings and continued institutional buying signal durable demand from funds and passive vehicles. Big Tech Core: New Burney ETF Packs Apple, Nvidia, Google, Broadcom Punch
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data currently shows anomalies (reporting zeros/NaN) and offers no clear signal on bearish positioning — not market‑moving as reported.
• Neutral Sentiment: Global memory‑chip shortages raise questions about iPhone pricing vs. margin trade‑offs; could preserve margins (price increases) or dent volume if Apple raises prices — impact unclear near term. Pricier iPhones? Global memory chip crunch puts spotlight on Apple
• Negative Sentiment: Apple has scaled back its AI health‑coach initiative (project “Mulberry”), highlighting execution and monetization challenges for new paid services tied to health/wearables. That could temper parts‑of‑services growth expectations. Apple Scales Back AI Health Coach Plans
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing insider selling is visible in regulatory filings; while routine at large cap firms, it can be interpreted negatively by some investors when concentrated.

Apple Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $278.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.97. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $288.62. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $268.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $253.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 12th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th will be issued 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 is Monday, February 9th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 13.15%.

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.