Rakuten Securities Inc. Sells 7,676 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Rakuten Securities Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 49.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,944 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 7,676 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,023,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. now owns 3,552 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $729,000 after buying an additional 415 shares during the period. Monarch Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Apple by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. now owns 66,967 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,740,000 after buying an additional 2,920 shares during the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 17.9% in the second quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 5,404 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.2% during the third quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 397,834 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $101,301,000 after buying an additional 8,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 48.4% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 1,426,605 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $363,256,000 after purchasing an additional 465,393 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Argus set a $325.00 price objective on Apple and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $300.00 price target on Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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 Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $278.12 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $268.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $254.18. The company has a market capitalization 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. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $288.62. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $138.25 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.04% and a return on equity of 159.94%. The company’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 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.