Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Formidable Asset Management LLC

Formidable Asset Management LLC lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 203,032 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 7,299 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 7.5% of Formidable Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Formidable Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $51,698,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 2.9% during the third quarter. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC now owns 13,901 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,540,000 after buying an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Florida Trust Wealth Management Co grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.5% during the third quarter. Florida Trust Wealth Management Co now owns 663,420 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $168,927,000 after buying an additional 9,962 shares during the last quarter. Partners Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Partners Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,988 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,872,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231 shares in the last quarter. Quantum Portfolio Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quantum Portfolio Management LLC now owns 56,008 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,261,000 after buying an additional 6,213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DMC Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 52,502 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,369,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong iPhone momentum and quarter results — iPhone 17 sales and overall revenue remained robust, supporting fundamentals and cushioning the pullback. Zacks: Strong iPhone Sales
• Positive Sentiment: Legal victory removes a potential multi‑hundred‑million dollar liability — a U.S. jury rejected Optis Wireless’ 4G patent claims, reducing near-term litigation risk. Benzinga: Optis Verdict
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support — Sanford C. Bernstein raised its price target, reflecting confidence in Apple’s growth trajectory and giving investors a bullish reference point. Bernstein PT Raise
• Neutral Sentiment: Content and services moves — Apple acquired full rights to the hit show “Severance” and added YouTube to Vision Pro, which are strategically positive for services but unlikely to move near‑term earnings materially. TechCrunch: Severance Deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Major shareholder cash flow note — Berkshire Hathaway received a large Apple dividend, underscoring Apple’s cash returns but also spotlighting Berkshire’s large position dynamics. Finbold: Berkshire Dividend
• Negative Sentiment: Siri AI upgrade delays and testing problems — reports that the Siri overhaul is running into accuracy and speed problems forced Apple to push features back, directly hitting the AI narrative investors were pricing in. CNBC: Siri Delay / Market Reaction
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk from FTC letter over Apple News — the FTC chair urged review of Apple News curation amid accusations of political bias, adding regulatory/legal uncertainty and headline risk. NYT: FTC Letter
• Negative Sentiment: Fund flow and institutional trimming amid sector pressure — several funds reduced Apple exposure and broader “Magnificent Seven” weakness amplified the selloff, raising short‑term downside pressure. Barron’s: Institutional Moves

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. 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. DZ Bank upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $325.00 price target on Apple in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, KGI Securities raised shares of Apple to an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price objective for the company 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 issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.13.

Apple Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $255.78 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $266.62 and its 200 day moving average is $255.51. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $288.62. The stock has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.34, a PEG ratio of 2.33 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.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.17. The business 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 business’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. 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.