Korea Investment CORP Grows Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Korea Investment CORP grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 11,255,291 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 109,283 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 5.9% of Korea Investment CORP’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,865,935,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,415,932,804 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $290,506,933,000 after buying an additional 15,141,995 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Apple by 0.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $123,358,461,000 after buying an additional 5,224,229 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $72,506,336,000 after acquiring an additional 4,942,638 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $38,942,255,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: MacBook Neo launch — Apple unveiled the $599 MacBook Neo aimed at education and budget buyers; reviewers (including MKBHD) praise it as highly disruptive, which could expand unit volumes and market share. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect meaningful initial units — Some research notes forecast 4–5 million MacBook Neo shipments this year, suggesting upside to Mac revenue if adoption meets expectations. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: India manufacturing incentives — New Indian incentives to boost local phone production support Apple’s ongoing shift of iPhone assembly to India, reducing China concentration risk and potentially lowering tariff exposure. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Buyback and cash flow support — Coverage highlights a large share‑repurchase (reported $24B) and strong free cash flow that help support the stock through market volatility, but these are longer‑term cushions rather than immediate catalysts. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data appears noisy — Reports show a large “increase” in short interest but the underlying data is zero/NaN, indicating a likely reporting glitch rather than a substantive change in bearish positioning.
• Negative Sentiment: China shipment weakness — UBS reiterated a Hold citing sharp declines in iPhone shipments in China, a direct hit to growth expectations for Apple’s largest hardware category. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Supplier cost pressure — Samsung Display’s CEO warned that higher oil and chip prices (and related supply‑cost inflation) could increase component costs for phones and laptops, pressuring margins industrywide. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and “no catalyst” views — Coverage notes AAPL trades at a premium P/E versus peers and some analysts say there’s no near‑term catalyst to justify further multiple expansion, leaving the stock vulnerable to broader market weakness. Article Title

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $255.76 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.10. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $288.62. The company’s fifty day moving average is $262.49 and its 200 day moving average is $261.14. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.25 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.04% and a return on equity of 159.94%. The company’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 13.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Moffett Nathanson upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $241.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $267.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective 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 given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $297.58.

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.