Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Down 5% – Should You Sell?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s share price fell 5% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $260.18 and last traded at $261.73. 77,458,346 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 42% from the average session volume of 54,494,930 shares. The stock had previously closed at $275.50.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong iPhone demand and upbeat fundamentals — Apple reported solid results and analysts point to continued iPhone-led revenue growth, supporting longer-term earnings momentum. Strong iPhone Sales Drive Apple Up 18%
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish analyst thesis and raised targets — firms including Bernstein and Evercore reiterate confidence (price targets in the $330–$340 area), citing Apple’s AI roadmap and resilient cash generation. Bernstein Raises Apple Price Target
• Neutral Sentiment: Vision Pro content wins but demand questions — YouTube arrives on Vision Pro (positive for ecosystem), but reports show VR demand remains soft, making near-term monetization uncertain. Vision Pro Gets YouTube
• Neutral Sentiment: Dividend and buyback program continues — Apple recently paid its quarterly dividend and remains active on repurchases, supporting shareholder returns but offering limited near-term offset to today’s headline-driven selling. Apple Just Paid Investors
• Negative Sentiment: FTC scrutiny over alleged Apple News bias — The FTC asked CEO Tim Cook to review Apple News curation after claims it suppresses conservative outlets, raising regulatory and reputational risk. This attracted headlines and political attention today. FTC tells Tim Cook to look into reports Apple News is censoring conservatives
• Negative Sentiment: Siri / AI upgrade delays — Multiple outlets report Apple’s long-planned Siri overhaul is running into testing problems and some features may be pushed back, fueling concerns about Apple’s AI timeline and near-term execution. Apple’s Latest Attempt to Launch New Siri Runs Into Snags – Bloomberg
• Negative Sentiment: Sector/AI headwinds and fund reallocation — Broader tech weakness (AI capex worries, chip/memory supply and margin concerns) and several reported asset-manager trims have pressured Apple alongside peers. Apple Stock Tumbles as Censorship Claims, AI Spending Fuel Investor Concerns
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data appears anomalous — recent short-interest reports show 0 shares / NaN change (likely a data glitch), so no clear short-squeeze signal from the published stats. (Source: exchange short-interest filings summary)

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KGI Securities upgraded Apple to an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 30th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 2nd. 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.13.

Apple Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $3.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $267.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $255.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 13.15%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,266,468,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the first quarter valued at approximately $17,472,482,000. PKS Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 98,917.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 57,898,088 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of 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 worth $5,553,753,000 after purchasing an additional 26,937,401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $387,749,545,000 after purchasing an additional 26,856,752 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.