Candriam S.C.A. Has $866.26 Million Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Candriam S.C.A. lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,402,027 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 14,058 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 4.5% of Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Apple were worth $866,258,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. American Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple by 3.7% during the third quarter. American Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 1,151 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,537 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,174,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Aspetuck Financial Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Aspetuck Financial Management LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,507,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Baker Boyer National Bank raised its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Baker Boyer National Bank now owns 18,011 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,695,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Beddow Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Beddow Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,597 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $533,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Product blitz strengthens long-term revenue/AI thesis — Apple unveiled the low‑cost MacBook Neo ($599), iPhone 17e and AI-focused Macs, which analysts say could kickstart an AI-driven upgrade cycle and broaden Apple’s addressable market (students/price‑sensitive buyers). This supports bullish price targets and the idea of a hardware-led revenue catalyst. Apple debuts $599 MacBook Neo to challenge Chromebooks, Windows PCs
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish analyst support — Wedbush and other brokers reiterated high targets (e.g., $350) and framed the new lineup as validation of Apple’s AI hardware strategy, giving investors confidence in multi‑quarter upside if an upgrade cycle materializes. Apple’s AI Hardware Blitz Could Send The Stock 33% Higher
• Positive Sentiment: Addressable‑market lift from low‑price models — Analysts (e.g., Gene Munster) argue the MacBook Neo and iPhone 17e could incrementally boost revenues and help Apple gain share in education/entry segments. Apple’s $599 MacBook Neo May Boost Revenue By 0.5%
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst moves — some firms nudged targets or maintained ratings (Rosenblatt raised to $268, Barclays updated targets), producing no clear consensus; investors must decide whether upgrades justify current valuation multiples. Benzinga (analyst updates)
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest/market data noise — published short‑interest figures in the feed are clearly faulty (zeros/NaN), so they’re not a reliable driver of today’s move.
• Negative Sentiment: Market‑wide volatility & geopolitical risk — broader tech weakness tied to Iran tensions and risk‑off flows is pressuring high‑beta mega caps, contributing to Apple’s pullback despite product news. Magnificent 7 Stock Report: Apple Leads, NVIDIA Fades, Microsoft Crashes
• Negative Sentiment: Concerns about low‑end push and technicals — some commentary frames the cheap‑product strategy as a sign of weaker demand or margin pressure, and technical analysts flagged bearish crossovers that could spur further selling if confirmed. Apple stock flashes ‘worst bearish cross’

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. CLSA upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 9th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Apple from $267.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $297.58.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $260.29 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $263.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $260.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.17. The company 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%.Apple’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s 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.