NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC Acquires 29,104 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 523,378 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,104 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 3.2% of NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $134,236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Jericho Financial LLP boosted its stake in Apple by 3.3% during the third quarter. Jericho Financial LLP now owns 32,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,314,000 after buying an additional 1,052 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 21,218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,403,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the period. JCIC Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $22,275,000. Defender Capital LLC. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Defender Capital LLC. now owns 4,953 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,261,191,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.6% in the third quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. now owns 27,147 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,912,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on AAPL shares. 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. Maxim Group raised shares of 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. Bank of America upped their price objective on Apple from $270.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Stephens set a $315.00 price objective on Apple in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.13.

Apple Stock Down 2.3%

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $255.78 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $288.62. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $266.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $255.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.34, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 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. Apple had a return on equity of 159.94% and a net margin of 27.04%.The business had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $138.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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 was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 13.15%.

More Apple News

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.