Apple Inc. $AAPL Stock Holdings Decreased by Meritage Portfolio Management

Meritage Portfolio Management cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 18.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 334,667 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 73,676 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 5.7% of Meritage Portfolio Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $85,216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 buying 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 acquiring an additional 5,224,229 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 4,942,638 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple during the second quarter worth approximately $38,942,255,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. CLSA boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $291.70.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $278.12 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $4.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $268.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $253.90. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $138.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. 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 presently 13.15%.

Apple Company 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.