Apple Inc. $AAPL Position Lifted by Cooper Financial Group

Cooper Financial Group raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 154,099 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,255 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 4.5% of Cooper Financial Group’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Cooper Financial Group’s holdings in Apple were worth $41,893,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,415,932,804 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $290,506,933,000 after purchasing an additional 15,141,995 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $123,358,461,000 after purchasing an additional 5,224,229 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $72,506,336,000 after buying an additional 4,942,638 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth about $38,942,255,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $330.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $297.58.

More Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple expands its U.S. manufacturing program and will invest $400 million through 2030 with new partners (Bosch, Cirrus Logic, TDK, Qnity), which should improve supply‑chain resilience, political optics, and long‑term component security. Apple adds Bosch, Cirrus Logic, others to US manufacturing program, to invest $400 million
• Positive Sentiment: Apple plans to open Siri to outside AI assistants (e.g., Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude), a strategic pivot that makes the iPhone a more flexible AI hub and could accelerate services engagement and monetization. This announcement improves Apple’s competitive AI positioning. Apple plans to open Siri to rival AI services, Bloomberg News reports
• Positive Sentiment: Supplier reaction: Cirrus Logic’s stock rallied after being named to Apple’s American Manufacturing Program, signaling vendor wins and execution progress for Apple’s reshoring plan (could shorten lead times for sensors/components). Cirrus Logic Stock Breaks Out On Apple Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple rolled out UK age‑verification measures for iPhone users to comply with new government expectations — a regulatory compliance step that reduces policy risk but may affect UX and require implementation costs. Apple rolls out UK age checks for iPhone users
• Negative Sentiment: China headwinds: shipments of foreign‑branded phones in China fell in February, a macro demand signal that could pressure regional iPhone volumes if the trend persists (some analysts note Apple may be relatively insulated, but risk remains). February shipments of foreign-branded phones in China fall 7.7% from a year ago, CAICT data shows

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $252.89 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.97, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.10. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $288.62. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $260.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $262.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.97.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.17. Apple had a return on equity of 159.94% and a net margin of 27.04%.The firm had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.