Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI Sells 8,210 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 570,409 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 8,210 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 8.3% of Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI’s holdings in Apple were worth $145,243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1,800.0% during the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 333.3% during the second quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 41.0% in the 2nd quarter. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC now owns 430 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at about $99,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on AAPL. Stephens set a $315.00 price objective on Apple in a report on Monday, January 26th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. KGI Securities upgraded Apple to an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Loop Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $325.00 target price (up previously from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. One equities research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $292.13.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

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

Apple Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $255.78 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $288.62. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $266.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $256.14.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.