Providence First Trust Co Decreases Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Providence First Trust Co lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 51.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 7,127 shares during the quarter. Providence First Trust Co’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,707,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. increased its position in Apple by 13.2% during the second quarter. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. now owns 3,552 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $729,000 after buying an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the second quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. now owns 66,967 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,740,000 after acquiring an additional 2,920 shares during the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC increased its position in Apple by 17.9% during the 2nd quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 5,404 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares in the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 397,834 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $101,301,000 after purchasing an additional 8,446 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its stake in Apple by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 1,426,605 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $363,256,000 after purchasing an additional 465,393 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Robert W. Baird set a $300.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Scotiabank set a $330.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 29th. CLSA boosted their price target on Apple from $265.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $276.47 price objective on Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.13.

Apple Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $255.78 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $288.62. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $266.62 and a 200-day moving average of $256.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results 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. 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 analyst estimates of $138.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a $0.26 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 13.15%.

Trending Headlines about Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong iPhone momentum and quarter results — iPhone 17 sales and overall revenue remained robust, supporting fundamentals and cushioning the pullback. Zacks: Strong iPhone Sales
• Positive Sentiment: Legal victory removes a potential multi‑hundred‑million dollar liability — a U.S. jury rejected Optis Wireless’ 4G patent claims, reducing near-term litigation risk. Benzinga: Optis Verdict
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support — Sanford C. Bernstein raised its price target, reflecting confidence in Apple’s growth trajectory and giving investors a bullish reference point. Bernstein PT Raise
• Neutral Sentiment: Content and services moves — Apple acquired full rights to the hit show “Severance” and added YouTube to Vision Pro, which are strategically positive for services but unlikely to move near‑term earnings materially. TechCrunch: Severance Deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Major shareholder cash flow note — Berkshire Hathaway received a large Apple dividend, underscoring Apple’s cash returns but also spotlighting Berkshire’s large position dynamics. Finbold: Berkshire Dividend
• Negative Sentiment: Siri AI upgrade delays and testing problems — reports that the Siri overhaul is running into accuracy and speed problems forced Apple to push features back, directly hitting the AI narrative investors were pricing in. CNBC: Siri Delay / Market Reaction
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk from FTC letter over Apple News — the FTC chair urged review of Apple News curation amid accusations of political bias, adding regulatory/legal uncertainty and headline risk. NYT: FTC Letter
• Negative Sentiment: Fund flow and institutional trimming amid sector pressure — several funds reduced Apple exposure and broader “Magnificent Seven” weakness amplified the selloff, raising short‑term downside pressure. Barron’s: Institutional Moves

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.