Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Down 1.4% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) dropped 1.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $260.05 and last traded at $260.58. Approximately 30,416,072 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 53,444,227 shares. The stock had previously closed at $264.35.

Key Stories Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple TV struck a commercial-distribution deal with EverPass Media to bring live sports streams into bars, hotels, gyms and restaurants — a clear push to expand paid/advertising reach for Apple TV in the commercial market. Apple TV partners with EverPass Media
• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush reiterated an Outperform stance and high price target on AAPL, signaling institutional confidence that Apple’s AI/wearables roadmap and services expansion justify upside. Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform
• Positive Sentiment: Several investment managers have added to Apple positions recently (e.g., Woodline, Driehaus), indicating active buy-side interest from some funds. Woodline boosts Apple stake
• Positive Sentiment: Product extensions that support ecosystem monetization — Apple Pay installments in stores and expansion of CarKey support (Toyota) — help services revenue and stickiness for iPhone users. Apple Pay pushes installments
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple is publicly pushing into AI-powered wearables (reports of smart glasses, new AirPods/pendant and related Siri upgrades). This is long-term constructive but timing and execution remain uncertain for investors. Apple bets on AI wearables
• Neutral Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway trimmed its Apple stake in the latest 13F filings — a headline-risk item but Berkshire still holds a very large position, so the move signals rebalancing more than loss of confidence. Berkshire pares Apple stake
• Negative Sentiment: Legal headlines: reports surfaced that Apple is being sued over the alleged role of iCloud in distributing child sexual abuse material, and West Virginia’s attorney general publicly accused Apple of inaction — these allegations raise regulatory, litigation and reputational risk. Apple sued over CSAM reports
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern over delays to Siri/AI feature rollouts has pressured the stock — even after a strong earnings beat (Q1 revenue and EPS topped expectations), market participants are punishing perceived AI execution risk. Siri delay concerns after earnings

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Stephens set a $315.00 price objective on Apple in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $239.00 price objective (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 30th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.13.

Apple Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $265.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $256.97. The stock has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.94, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $138.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a $0.26 dividend. 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 presently 13.15%.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Isthmus Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 97,177 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 5,808 shares in the last quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Apple by 110.9% in the third quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 1,800.0% during the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 333.3% during the 2nd quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company 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.