Axecap Investments LLC Grows Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Axecap Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 63.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,393 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,660 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.5% of Axecap Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Axecap Investments LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,392,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Capstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,537 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,174,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Baker Boyer National Bank raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Baker Boyer National Bank now owns 18,011 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,695,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Beddow Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Beddow Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,597 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $533,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the third quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC now owns 10,609 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,701,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 0.5% during the third quarter. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,646 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,456,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $255.78 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $288.62. The company has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.34, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $266.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $255.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.25 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.04% and a return on equity of 159.94%. Apple’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.40 EPS. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.15%.

More Apple News

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AAPL. Stephens set a $315.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $300.00 price objective on Apple and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Maxim Group raised shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 9th. One equities research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.13.

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.