Maple Capital Management Inc. Increases Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Maple Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 527,115 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,731 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 8.8% of Maple Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Maple Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $134,219,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $38,942,255,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth $17,472,482,000. PKS Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 98,917.0% during the second quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC now owns 57,956,620 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,106,000 after buying an additional 57,898,088 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 20,464.8% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,069,029 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,553,753,000 after buying an additional 26,937,401 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $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 institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price target (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Apple from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. KGI Securities raised shares of Apple to an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $315.00 target price (down from $330.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. One equities 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $297.58.

Key Stories Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Tim Cook’s trip to China and Apple cutting App Store commission in mainland China to 25% reduces regulatory friction and should help restore relations with large developers/partners in the world’s biggest iPhone market; that eases geopolitical/regulatory risk even if it modestly trims revenue per transaction. Apple (AAPL) Stock Rises as Tim Cook Tours China Amid App Store Fee Reduction to 25%
• Positive Sentiment: New product refreshes — AirPods Max 2 and a refreshed MacBook lineup with M5 chips — support near-term revenue and margin upside in wearables and Macs; Evercore reaffirming Outperform on Mac refreshes adds bullish analyst support. Apple Expands Wearables Portfolio With New AirPods Max Apple Launches New MacBook Lineup with M5 Chips
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic M&A and partnerships — MotionVFX acquisition to deepen Final Cut Pro/creator offerings and a first-ever Beats × Nike hardware tie-up — help Services and accessory ecosystems, supporting higher‑margin, recurring revenue paths. Apple’s MotionVFX Deal Deepens Creator Studio And Services Ecosystem Nike partners with Apple’s Beats
• Positive Sentiment: Supply-chain signals: stronger demand at suppliers for AI/data-center components (e.g., Jabil’s better results) imply healthier component flows for Apple’s future device/AI plans. That supports execution and product cadence. Jabil Quietly Manufactures an Accelerating Stock Price Rally
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and fair‑value chatter: some outlets nudge fair value targets modestly higher on AI and new products but stress rising component costs and uneven regional demand — mixed inputs that leave consensus estimates largely intact for now. How The Apple (AAPL) Investment Narrative Is Shifting
• Neutral Sentiment: Data point on short interest appears to be a reporting anomaly (zero/NaN entries) and offers no clear signal about bearish positioning; treat with caution until clean data is available.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports of talent departures and internal leadership scrutiny raise execution concerns for AI and product initiatives; investor worry about management continuity has increased speculation (some prediction‑market headlines). Apple’s talent exodus concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Analyses that flag the Magnificent Seven’s stretched valuations and moderating growth reduce the sector’s multiple support — a sector‑level headwind for AAPL despite company fundamentals. Mag 7 Or ‘Lag 7?’ A Quant Review
• Negative Sentiment: Product risk headlines — e.g., critical iPhone 18 coverage and public criticism about long app‑review times — can weigh on near‑term sentiment and developer relations. Apple just got a brutal iPhone 18 warning Elon Musk Has One Word for This Apple Problem

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $249.94 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.60, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $261.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $261.95. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $143.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $138.25 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 159.94% and a net margin of 27.04%.Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.40 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.