SWP Financial LLC Has $9.91 Million Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

SWP Financial LLC reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 38,903 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,307 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 5.0% of SWP Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. SWP Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,906,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 13.2% in the second quarter. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. now owns 3,552 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $729,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 4.6% in the second quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. now owns 66,967 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,740,000 after buying an additional 2,920 shares during the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 17.9% during the second quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 5,404 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after buying an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 2.2% during the third quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 397,834 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $101,301,000 after acquiring an additional 8,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its holdings in Apple by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 1,426,605 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $363,256,000 after acquiring an additional 465,393 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America maintained its Buy rating and a $325 price target, citing sustained services momentum and device-level AI upside — a clear analyst vote of confidence for AAPL’s earnings outlook. Apple: Sustained Services Momentum and Device-Level AI Upside Support Buy Rating and $325 Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: Apple launched the lower?cost iPhone 17e (starting at $599, 256GB base) and an upgraded iPad Air — moves that broaden addressable market and help defend share in price?sensitive segments. Apple launches iPhone 17e with prices starting $599
• Neutral Sentiment: Nasdaq filed to offer binary-style “Outcome Related Options” tied to Nasdaq?100 outcomes — could increase event-driven trading/volatility in AAPL but doesn’t change fundamentals. Nasdaq files for prediction market-style options on Nasdaq-100
• Neutral Sentiment: Anthropic’s Claude topped App Store charts after regulatory headlines — a reminder of competitive and policy dynamics in AI but only an indirect impact on Apple’s core business. Anthropic’s Claude Tops Apple App Store Charts Day After Trump Administration Bars Agency Use
• Negative Sentiment: Media reports show Warren Buffett/Berkshire trimmed its AAPL stake heavily before retirement — high?profile selling can pressure sentiment and trigger technical selling even if fundamentals remain intact. Right Before Retiring, Warren Buffett Dumped Shares of Amazon and Apple and Bought 368,000 Shares of This Restaurant Stock
• Negative Sentiment: A report flagged a greater reliance on Google cloud for Siri, raising execution/cost risks for Apple’s AI roadmap and cloud spend — a potential margin headwind or strategic dependency concern. Apple Stock (AAPL) Struggles as Report Flags Greater Dependence on Google for Siri
• Negative Sentiment: Escalating Middle East tensions and energy market moves are creating broader market risk aversion that can drag cyclical/tech names like Apple even if company-specific news is mixed. FTSE 100 LIVE: London stocks at two-week low as Middle East crisis continues to impact oil and gas prices

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on AAPL. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $239.00 target price (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price objective (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 9th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $294.43.

Apple Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $264.72 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $288.62. The company has a market cap of $3.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $264.54 and a 200 day moving average of $259.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its 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. Apple had a return on equity of 159.94% and a net margin of 27.04%.The firm had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $138.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

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.