U S Wealth Group LLC. Raises Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

U S Wealth Group LLC. raised its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,428 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,921 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 4.7% of U S Wealth Group LLC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. U S Wealth Group LLC.’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,239,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 51,540 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,124,000 after purchasing an additional 3,061 shares during the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC grew its stake in Apple by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 17,915 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,562,000 after buying an additional 434 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Wealth Management Inc. now owns 12,321 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,137,000 after buying an additional 1,588 shares during the last quarter. Opulen Financial Group LLC increased its position in Apple by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. Opulen Financial Group LLC now owns 4,543 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,157,000 after buying an additional 587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keystone Financial Group raised its stake in Apple by 2.6% in the third quarter. Keystone Financial Group now owns 363,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $93,991,000 after buying an additional 9,353 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Moffett Nathanson raised their price target on Apple from $241.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $315.00 target price (down from $330.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $325.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $297.58.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple acquired MotionVFX to expand Final Cut Pro plugins and the Creator Studio bundle — a move aimed at monetizing pro creative tools and boosting Services/subscriptions over time. Apple acquires video editing software company MotionVFX
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore reaffirmed Outperform after Apple refreshed its MacBook lineup with M5 chips — product refresh + positive analyst support can underwrite upside expectations for hardware revenue and margins. Apple (AAPL) Launches New MacBook Lineup with M5 Chips, Evercore Reaffirms Outperform
• Positive Sentiment: Apple launched AirPods Max 2 — a premium product refresh that typically supports near‑term hardware revenue and helps maintain Apple’s pricing power in accessories. Market reports tied the new model to a modest intraday stock lift. Apple unveils second-generation AirPods Max
• Positive Sentiment: Beats partnered with Nike on co‑branded earbuds — incremental branding/hardware collaboration that can help wearables/accessories sales and cross‑sell within Apple’s ecosystem. Nike partners with Apple’s Beats
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple cut App Store commission rates in mainland China from 30% to 25% for in‑app purchases — analysts say this will meaningfully help margins for major Chinese app/game publishers (Tencent, NetEase). For Apple, the change supports the developer ecosystem and regulatory relations but is a modest headwind to Services revenue in that market. Apple fee cut to boost Tencent, NetEase margins in China, analysts say
• Negative Sentiment: Prediction‑market chatter that Tim Cook could exit before 2027 has circulated — such governance speculation can increase short‑term volatility even though Cook has publicly pushed back. Investors dislike leadership uncertainty. Tim Cook To Exit As Apple CEO Before 2027? Here’s What Prediction Market Is Saying
• Negative Sentiment: Public criticism from high‑profile developers/CEOs (Elon Musk calling iOS app review delays “ridiculous”) highlights developer friction — negative PR that could pressure perception around App Store developer experience and platform risk. Elon Musk Has One Word for This Apple Problem: ‘Ridiculous’

Apple Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $254.23 on Wednesday. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $288.62. The stock has a market cap of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.14, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $261.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $262.04.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $143.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS 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 issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend 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%.

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.