Curat Global LLC Trims Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Curat Global LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 84.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,168 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 12,000 shares during the period. Curat Global LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $552,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 worth $290,506,933,000 after purchasing an additional 15,141,995 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 4,942,638 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,942,255,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Apple by 13.3% in 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price objective (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $315.00 target price (down previously from $330.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. DZ Bank raised shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Apple from $270.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Maxim Group upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One 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 issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.13.

Apple Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $273.68 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.60, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The business’s 50 day moving average is $267.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $255.03. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $288.62.

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, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $138.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend 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: Sanford C. Bernstein raised its price target to $340 and kept an “outperform” rating — a sizable upside vs. the current stock level that supports bullish analyst momentum for AAPL.
• Positive Sentiment: Bernstein’s Mark Newman says a strong iPhone 17 cycle is driving better‑than‑expected revenue and helped the firm hike its price target. Strong iPhone 17 cycle giving better than expected revenue, says Bernstein’s Mark Newman
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s latest quarter showed surging revenue and free-cash-flow margins, prompting some analysts and options traders to lift targets and consider bullish option strategies — a direct fundamental tailwind for valuation.
• Positive Sentiment: Media and commentators note Apple’s conservative approach to AI capex (avoiding huge data‑center spending) as a profit-preserving advantage versus hyperscalers, reinforcing margin resilience. Jim Cramer on Apple (AAPL): “Doesn’t Hurt That They’ve Avoided Spending Hundreds of Billions of Dollars on Data Centers”
• Positive Sentiment: Supply-chain checks suggest a “solid outlook” for Apple components and inventory, which supports near‑term revenue visibility. Apple in focus as GF says supply chain survey suggests ‘solid outlook’
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple and Google agreed to app‑store changes to satisfy the UK regulator — this reduces regulatory overhang in that market but is incremental to global revenue. Apple and Google agree app store changes to appease UK regulator
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short-interest data for Feb. 10 appears to be erroneous (shows zero shares and NaN change) — not a meaningful signal for shares today.
• Neutral Sentiment: High‑profile investors (e.g., Peter Thiel’s fund) including Apple in a contrarian AI exposure list provides some institutional endorsement but is not a catalyst by itself. Thiel Bypasses Palantir and Nvidia for Meta, Tesla, Apple in Contrarian AI Play
• Negative Sentiment: Several pieces raise caution: some investors warn the Magnificent 7 (including AAPL) could underperform amid rising capex and rotation risks, which can pressure multiples. Why This Investor Thinks Magnificent 7 Stocks May Underperform This Year
• Negative Sentiment: Questions persist in the press about Apple’s AI positioning and whether it may be falling behind peers — any signs of execution gaps on AI could weigh on sentiment and multiples. Is Apple Falling Behind in Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Here’s What CEO Tim Cook Just Said.

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.