Holocene Advisors LP Lowers Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Holocene Advisors LP cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 36.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,950,000 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,125,000 shares during the period. Apple makes up 1.1% of Holocene Advisors LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Holocene Advisors LP’s holdings in Apple were worth $496,528,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. lifted its holdings in Apple by 13.2% in the second quarter. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. now owns 3,552 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $729,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the period. Monarch Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. now owns 66,967 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,740,000 after purchasing an additional 2,920 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 17.9% during the 2nd quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 5,404 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 2.2% during 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 lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $363,256,000 after purchasing an additional 465,393 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple acquired MotionVFX, a maker of Final Cut Pro plugins and motion-graphics tools — a strategic tuck-in to bolster Final Cut Pro/creator ecosystem and subscription stickiness. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Apple unveiled the second-generation AirPods Max (H2 chip, improved ANC, Live Translation) at $549 — a premium product refresh that supports accessory revenue and services integration. Preorders and ASPs could help near-term revenue. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports suggest Apple is using aggressive pricing on some new hardware (e.g., $599 MacBook Neo, iPhone 17e) to gain share — this could pressure rivals while expanding ecosystem reach and driving volume. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst note: Robert W. Baird reiterated a bullish stance, highlighting Apple’s durable ecosystem and services growth — supportive for long-term earnings but not an immediate catalyst. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparisons to Amazon and broader AI/tech narratives are circulating — useful context for relative valuation debates but not a direct Apple-specific driver. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Nvidia’s GTC and chip/AI momentum continue to dominate headlines; indirect implications for Apple include component demand and competitive AI feature expectations. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Apple is sliding relative to peers in March and is down from recent highs — momentum and sector rotation (Nvidia leadership) are weighing on sentiment. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Apple postponed its smart home display release — a product delay that could defer revenue and push back ecosystem expansion timelines. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data reported today appears anomalous/garbled (zeros/NaN); read-through on investor positioning is unclear — treat short-interest headline with caution.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $267.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, CLSA upped their price objective on Apple from $265.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. One research 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $297.58.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $252.82 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $288.62. The stock has a market cap of $3.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.96, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $261.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $261.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.25 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.04% and a return on equity of 159.94%. The company’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. 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.