Factory Mutual Insurance Co. Reduces Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Factory Mutual Insurance Co. lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,767,571 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 57,650 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 4.4% of Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $450,077,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. American Alpha Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. American Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 1,151 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $293,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Capstone Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 0.5% during the third quarter. Capstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,537 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,174,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Tacita Capital Inc increased its position in Apple by 0.8% during the third quarter. Tacita Capital Inc now owns 5,718 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,456,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Aspetuck Financial Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Aspetuck Financial Management LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,507,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baker Boyer National Bank raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the second 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. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush raised its street-high price target to $350, arguing Apple’s AI-capable Macs and refreshed product cycle could unlock ~33% upside — a clear bullish signal for investors. Wedbush $350 target
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentators highlight Apple’s AI approach (hardware + Google Gemini partnership) as a profitability-focused alternative to the capex-heavy AI race — narrative supports margins and services monetization. AAPL Not Running AI Race Paying Off? iPhone & Google Gemini Add Tech Muscle
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s exclusive U.S. Formula 1 streaming deal for Apple TV expands services revenue and engagement — a structural positive for recurring revenue and ecosystem stickiness. Formula 1 and Apple’s big gamble
• Positive Sentiment: The MacBook Neo ($599) and entry-level iPhone broaden addressable market (students and price-sensitive buyers), which could modestly increase unit volumes and services attach over time. Apple Slashes Entry Price With MacBook Neo
• Neutral Sentiment: Smaller analyst moves: Rosenblatt nudged its PT slightly and Barclays revised targets in recent notes — these are incremental but keep the debate active on upside scope. Rosenblatt/Benzinga note
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple remains a staple in dividend-growth ETFs (e.g., DGRO), reinforcing long-term passive demand even amid short-term volatility. DGRO / Market context
• Negative Sentiment: Some outlets reported an immediate share pullback after the budget-product announcements (concerns about margin dilution and the market’s rotation away from expensive Big Tech/AI spenders). That knee-jerk selling contributed to intraday weakness. Apple stock slid after MacBook Neo
• Negative Sentiment: Wider market pressure on AI-capex-heavy names and headlines about “Big Tech” valuation compression mean Apple can be caught up in sector moves even as company-specific fundamentals remain strong. Big Tech valuation rotation
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data in some feeds showed a spike but the reports contain inconsistent values (0 shares / NaN) — treat that as likely reporting noise rather than evidence of a large coordinated short. (No reliable source link available in the feed.)

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Moffett Nathanson raised their target price on shares of Apple from $241.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $239.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $297.58.

Apple Trading Down 1.1%

AAPL stock opened at $257.46 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $288.62. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $263.56 and its 200 day moving average is $260.46. The company has a market capitalization of $3.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $138.25 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.04% and a return on equity of 159.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.40 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were issued 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 payout ratio is presently 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.