ERn Financial LLC Sells 2,983 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

ERn Financial LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 14.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,732 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,983 shares during the period. ERn Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $38,942,255,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter valued at $17,472,482,000. PKS Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 98,917.0% during the 2nd quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC now owns 57,956,620 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,106,000 after purchasing an additional 57,898,088 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 20,464.8% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,069,029 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,553,753,000 after purchasing an additional 26,937,401 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush reaffirms an “Outperform” rating and keeps a high $350 price target, arguing the recent pullback is unwarranted and that 2026 could be a big year for Apple’s AI push. Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Apple is testing new AI-focused consumer devices and accelerating work on AI wearables add to a constructive long-term narrative that could support revenue diversification beyond iPhone. As Apple Tests AI Devices
• Positive Sentiment: Apple TV signed a distribution agreement with EverPass Media to bring live sports to bars, hotels and other commercial venues — a small but tangible expansion of distribution and monetization for streaming sports content. Apple TV Partners With EverPass Media
• Positive Sentiment: Several institutional investors and hedge funds reportedly increased Apple stakes (e.g., Woodline, Driehaus), indicating fresh buying interest from some large managers. Woodline Boosts Apple Stake
• Neutral Sentiment: Google and Apple are both adding music-focused generative-AI features to consumer apps — a sign AI is moving into mainstream services but not an immediate revenue inflection for Apple. Google Gemini, Apple Add Music-Focused Generative AI Features
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta reportedly revived a smartwatch project aimed at competing with Apple Watch. This raises competitive noise but is not yet a confirmed near-term earnings risk. Meta Looks to Take on Apple With First Smartwatch
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest reports in the feed appear to show anomalies (zeros/NaN) and don’t provide a clear signal about sustained new bearish positioning. No reliable short-squeeze/pressure signal visible yet.
• Negative Sentiment: West Virginia’s attorney general sued Apple alleging iCloud end-to-end encryption is being used to store/distribute child sexual abuse material — a legal and reputational risk that investors view as potentially costly and regulatory-sensitive. Apple Sued Over Allegations of CSAM on iCloud
• Negative Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway trimmed its Apple position in the latest 13F/filing cycle — headlines framed as “Buffett dumps more Apple.” While Berkshire remains a large shareholder, the reported trimming put pressure on sentiment and likely contributed to selling. Buffett Dumps More Apple

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 target price (up previously from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. KGI Securities raised shares of Apple to an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.13.

Apple Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $260.58 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $288.62. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $265.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $256.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.94, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced 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 company had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.25 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 159.94% and a net margin of 27.04%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.40 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 13.15%.

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.