Apple’s (AAPL) “Overweight” Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reissued their overweight rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has a $315.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. CLSA increased their target price on Apple from $265.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Apple from $325.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Moffett Nathanson increased their price objective on Apple from $241.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $330.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $297.58.

Apple Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $252.62 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $260.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $262.46. 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 has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 27.04% and a return on equity of 159.94%. The firm had revenue of $143.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were given 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 (DPR) is presently 13.15%.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $52,266,468,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at about $17,472,482,000. PKS Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 98,917.0% in the 2nd quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC now owns 57,956,620 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,106,000 after purchasing an additional 57,898,088 shares during the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 890.7% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 41,984,810 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,413,990,000 after buying an additional 37,746,784 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 20,464.8% in the 2nd 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. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Apple News

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

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.