Apple Inc. $AAPL is PPS&V Asset Management Consultants Inc.’s 7th Largest Position

PPS&V Asset Management Consultants Inc. cut its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 14.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 29,294 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,819 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 4.6% of PPS&V Asset Management Consultants Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. PPS&V Asset Management Consultants Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,964,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,415,932,804 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $290,506,933,000 after acquiring an additional 15,141,995 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $123,358,461,000 after acquiring an additional 5,224,229 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $72,506,336,000 after acquiring an additional 4,942,638 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $38,942,255,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $330.00 target price on Apple in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Maxim Group raised Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $297.58.

Trending Headlines about Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple is pushing into new ad and services revenue channels — launching the Apple Business platform (Apr. 14) and rolling out paid ads in Apple Maps (U.S./Canada this summer), which could lift Services revenue and diversify monetization. Apple to bring paid ads to maps to US, Canada this summer
• Positive Sentiment: AI and assistant upgrades remain a strategic focus — reports say Apple is testing a standalone Siri app and an “Ask Siri” AI agent, and AirPods Max 2 includes Apple Intelligence features. These moves bolster Apple’s AI narrative and ecosystem stickiness ahead of WWDC. Apple Readies Introduction of AI Agent-Like Siri
• Positive Sentiment: Major broker/analyst attention and investor interest are rising — Morgan Stanley issued an Overweight and Apple recently became the most-searched stock on Zacks, signalling renewed institutional and retail focus. Apple Surpasses Nvidia as the Most Popular Stock on Zacks.com: Time to Buy AAPL? Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Earns Overweight Rating from Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Software updates and minor product launches (iOS 26.4, AI playlists, other UI tweaks) maintain ecosystem engagement but are unlikely to move revenue materially in the near term. Apple launches iOS 26.4 with AI playlists, purchase sharing, and more – The Verge
• Neutral Sentiment: Third-party and developer activity on the App Store continues (e.g., TAP Invest added to App Store), which underscores platform health but is not a company-specific catalyst. TAP, Inc. Launches TAP Invest Mobile App on the Apple App Store
• Neutral Sentiment: WWDC scheduled for June 8 is a near-term event that typically provides software/AI roadmaps — a potential catalyst but not a guaranteed positive. Apple to host June developer conference online with AI updates
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory-driven changes in the U.K. (age verification for many Apple services) have introduced near-term volatility and could add friction to service usage/revenue in that market. Markets showed a volatile reaction premarket to the rollout. Apple rolls out UK age checks for iPhone users Apple stock volatile premarket after rolling out UK age verification
• Negative Sentiment: China data shows shipments of foreign-branded phones (including iPhones) fell ~7.7% year-over-year in February — a reminder of near-term demand softness in Apple’s second-largest market. February shipments of foreign-branded phones in China fall 7.7% from a year ago, CAICT data shows

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $252.62 on Thursday. 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 fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $288.62. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $260.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $262.46. The firm has a market cap of $3.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.17. Apple had a return on equity of 159.94% and a net margin of 27.04%.The company had revenue of $143.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 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.