Meitav Investment House Ltd. Raises Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Meitav Investment House Ltd. raised its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 81,162 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,001 shares during the quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $20,665,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1,800.0% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 333.3% during the 2nd quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $65,000. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 41.0% in the 2nd quarter. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC now owns 430 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at about $99,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results and continued iPhone strength, which underpins revenue and margin resilience. Here’s Why Apple’s Stock Dropped 5% Today
• Positive Sentiment: Bernstein raised its price target and bullish analyst notes highlight Apple’s AI roadmap and services upside, offering a longer-term constructive view. Sanford C. Bernstein Raises Apple Price Target to $340.00
• Positive Sentiment: Apple bought full rights to the hit show “Severance” and will produce future seasons in-house — a strategic push for Apple TV+ that can boost content control and margins long term. Apple acquires all rights to Severance, will produce future seasons in-house
• Neutral Sentiment: Vision Pro added YouTube, which improves platform utility, but VR demand is reported to be cooling — a mixed signal for device adoption and services monetization. Apple’s Vision Pro Gets YouTube, but VR Demand Keeps Sliding
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports say Apple’s major Siri AI upgrade has run into testing problems and will be delayed, undermining near-term AI momentum and stoking investor concern about execution. Apple has worst day since April as company faces FTC scrutiny, Siri delay reports
• Negative Sentiment: The FTC has publicly raised concerns about alleged bias in Apple News and asked CEO Tim Cook to review curation policies, adding regulatory risk and political headlines that can pressure shares. US FTC airs concerns over allegations that Apple suppresses right-wing content on Apple News
• Negative Sentiment: Wider market AI fears and reports that investors are marking down Apple’s valuation led to an estimated ~$200B market-cap hit as funds rotate away from megacap AI exposure. Apple sees $200 billion market-cap wipeout as stock slides on AI fears

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $261.73 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $267.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $255.22. The company has a market cap of $3.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced 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. Apple had a return on equity of 159.94% and a net margin of 27.04%.The business had revenue of $143.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $138.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 currently 13.15%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Argus set a $325.00 target price on Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Scotiabank set a $330.00 price target on Apple in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $300.00 price target on Apple in a research report on Friday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.13.

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.