Gateway Wealth Partners LLC Acquires 28,503 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Gateway Wealth Partners LLC bought 28,503 shares of Apple in Q3, raising its stake by 77.5% to 65,268 shares valued at $16,619,000, making Apple about 2.2% of its portfolio and its third-largest position.
• Several other institutions also adjusted positions and, overall, about 67.73% of Apple is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors, reflecting heavy institutional interest.
• Apple recently unveiled lower-cost hardware (including the MacBook Neo at $599, iPhone 17e and AI-focused Macs), spurring bullish analyst targets and talk of an AI-driven upgrade cycle, though geopolitical risk and margin/technical concerns introduce mixed sentiment.

Gateway Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 77.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 65,268 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 28,503 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 2.2% of Gateway Wealth Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $16,619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 110.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 1,800.0% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC increased its holdings in Apple by 333.3% in the second quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Finally, Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 41.0% in the second quarter. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC now owns 430 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Product blitz strengthens long-term revenue/AI thesis — Apple unveiled the low‑cost MacBook Neo ($599), iPhone 17e and AI-focused Macs, which analysts say could kickstart an AI-driven upgrade cycle and broaden Apple’s addressable market (students/price‑sensitive buyers). This supports bullish price targets and the idea of a hardware-led revenue catalyst. Apple debuts $599 MacBook Neo to challenge Chromebooks, Windows PCs
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish analyst support — Wedbush and other brokers reiterated high targets (e.g., $350) and framed the new lineup as validation of Apple’s AI hardware strategy, giving investors confidence in multi‑quarter upside if an upgrade cycle materializes. Apple's AI Hardware Blitz Could Send The Stock 33% Higher
• Positive Sentiment: Addressable‑market lift from low‑price models — Analysts (e.g., Gene Munster) argue the MacBook Neo and iPhone 17e could incrementally boost revenues and help Apple gain share in education/entry segments. Apple's $599 MacBook Neo May Boost Revenue By 0.5%
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst moves — some firms nudged targets or maintained ratings (Rosenblatt raised to $268, Barclays updated targets), producing no clear consensus; investors must decide whether upgrades justify current valuation multiples. Benzinga (analyst updates)
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest/market data noise — published short‑interest figures in the feed are clearly faulty (zeros/NaN), so they’re not a reliable driver of today’s move.
• Negative Sentiment: Market‑wide volatility & geopolitical risk — broader tech weakness tied to Iran tensions and risk‑off flows is pressuring high‑beta mega caps, contributing to Apple’s pullback despite product news. Magnificent 7 Stock Report: Apple Leads, NVIDIA Fades, Microsoft Crashes
• Negative Sentiment: Concerns about low‑end push and technicals — some commentary frames the cheap‑product strategy as a sign of weaker demand or margin pressure, and technical analysts flagged bearish crossovers that could spur further selling if confirmed. Apple stock flashes ‘worst bearish cross'

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $260.29 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $263.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $260.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.10. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.17. Apple had a net margin of 27.04% and a return on equity of 159.94%. The company had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $138.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.40 EPS. Apple'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 fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.4%. Apple's payout ratio is 13.15%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Barclays lifted their price target on Apple from $239.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group set a $330.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $297.58.

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.

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