<div id="readability-page-1">Associated Banc Corp cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 593,731 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 12,933 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 4.0% of Associated Banc Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Associated Banc Corp's holdings in Apple were worth $151,182,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.<ul><li>Mag 7 Outlook: What Apple, Microsoft, Meta, and Tesla Just Told Us</li></ul>Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth $38,942,255,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 1st quarter worth about $17,472,482,000. PKS Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 98,917.0% in the 2nd quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC now owns 57,956,620 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $12,106,000 after purchasing an additional 57,898,088 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 20,464.8% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,069,029 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,553,753,000 after purchasing an additional 26,937,401 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. <h2>Analysts Set New Price Targets</h2>A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a &#34;market perform&#34; rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI restated an &#34;outperform&#34; rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. UBS Group reaffirmed a &#34;neutral&#34; rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Citigroup reissued a &#34;buy&#34; rating and set a $315.00 price target (down from $330.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Maxim Group upgraded Apple from a &#34;hold&#34; rating to a &#34;buy&#34; rating and set a $300.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of &#34;Moderate Buy&#34; and an average price target of $289.23.<ul><li>MarketBeat Week in Review – 01/26 - 01/30</li></ul>Read Our Latest Analysis on AAPL<h2>Insider Activity</h2>In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,095,030.54. This trade represents a 19.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock. <h2>Key Stories Impacting Apple</h2><ul><li>Apple Posts Record Quarter, But AI Details Remain Unclear</li></ul>Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:<ul> <li>Positive Sentiment: Record quarter driven by iPhone 17 and China — Apple beat revenue and EPS expectations, reported record iPhone sales and gave strong March-quarter revenue/margin guidance, supporting bullish near-term fundamentals. Apple sales, profit beat</li> <li>Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades/price-target increases — Several firms raised targets and reiterated buy ratings after the beat (including TD Cowen, JPMorgan, Monness Crespi &amp; Hardt), which supports upside sentiment among institutional investors. Analyst notes</li> <li>Neutral Sentiment: AI strategy remains ambiguous — Apple announced partnerships (e.g., Google Gemini) and made AI-related M&amp;A (Q.ai), but offered limited execution details; these moves signal intent but leave monetization and competitive positioning unclear. AI details unclear</li> <li>Neutral Sentiment: Potential supply-chain diversification — Reports that Apple is exploring U.S. foundry partners (e.g., Intel) could ease long-term sourcing risk but are early-stage and not an immediate fix for 2026 capacity issues. Intel foundry reports</li> <li>Negative Sentiment: Rising memory-chip costs and shortages — Apple warned memory prices are beginning to bite; suppliers like Samsung and SK Hynix are prioritizing AI chips, tightening supply and pressuring gross margins if costs stay elevated. Memory cost warning</li> <li>Negative Sentiment: iPhone production constraints — Multiple reports say TSMC/other chip shortages are limiting Apple’s ability to meet iPhone demand, forcing Apple to prioritize premium models and potentially capping unit growth despite strong demand. TSMC supply short</li> <li>Negative Sentiment: Talent and execution questions in AI — Reports of AI researcher departures and commentary that the Google partnership could limit Apple’s AI upside have soured investor enthusiasm for Apple’s AI prospects. AI researcher departures</li> </ul><h2>Apple Stock Performance</h2>NASDAQ AAPL opened at $259.48 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $288.62. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $268.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $252.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.09. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $143.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $138.25 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.04% and a return on equity of 159.94%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. <h2>Apple Announces Dividend</h2>The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 12th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 13.15%. <h2>About Apple</h2> (Free Report)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.<h2>Read More</h2><ul><li>Five stocks we like better than Apple</li><li>Trump just signed it</li><li>Buy this Gold Stock Before May 2026</li><li>This is the Exact Moment the AI Boom Will End</li><li>New Banking Law #1582 Could Unlock $21 Trillion for Americans</li><li>ALERT: Drop these 5 stocks before the market opens tomorrow!</li></ul><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.marketbeat.com/scripts/SECFilingChart.ashx/query-UHJlZml4PU5BU0RBUSZTeW1ib2w9QUFQTA?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="650" height="350" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.marketbeat.com/scripts/SECFilingChart.ashx/query-UHJlZml4PU5BU0RBUSZTeW1ib2w9QUFQTA"/>This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.<h2>Should You Invest $1,000 in Apple Right Now?</h2>Before you consider Apple, you'll want to hear this.MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Apple wasn't on the list.While Apple currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.View The Five Stocks Here </div>

On October 26th, after the U.S. stock market closed, chip giant Intel released its Q3 2023 financial report. The report showed that Intel's total revenue in the third quarter fell 8% year-on-year to $14.16 billion, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of declining sales, although it was still higher than the market expectation of $13.53 billion. In the second quarter, revenue had previously dropped 15% year-on-year, and the company expects revenue to return to growth in the fourth quarter. However, the sales of the Network and Edge Group (NEX), which includes IoT and other segments, fell 32% year-on-year to $1.5 billion. More importantly, the server chip division, named "Data Center and Artificial Intelligence," has yet to recover growth, with third-quarter revenue declining 10% year-on-year to $3.8 billion. Facing multiple competitive pressures, do you think Intel can turn the tide in the AI era?

On October 26th, after the U.S. stock market closed, chip giant Intel released its Q3 2023 financial report. The report showed that Intel's total revenue in the third quarter fell 8% year-on-year to $14.16 billion, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of declining sales, although it was still higher than the market expectation of $13.53 billion. In the second quarter, revenue had previously dropped 15% year-on-year, and the company expects revenue to return to growth in the fourth quarter. However, the sales of the Network and Edge Group (NEX), which includes IoT and other segments, fell 32% year-on-year to $1.5 billion. More importantly, the server chip division, named "Data Center and Artificial Intelligence," has yet to recover growth, with third-quarter revenue declining 10% year-on-year to $3.8 billion. Facing multiple competitive pressures, do you think Intel can turn the tide in the AI era?

In the AI era, can Intel win a comeback?

Associated Banc Corp reduced its stake in Apple Inc. by 2.1% in Q3, holding 593,731 shares valued at $151.18 million. Apple constitutes 4.0% of its portfolio. Other institutional investors have also adjusted their positions, with significant acquisitions noted. Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook on Apple, with various ratings and price targets set, while insider trading activity has been reported. Key factors influencing Apple include record sales, analyst upgrades, and concerns over AI strategy and rising memory-chip costs.

- Associated Banc Corp reduced its stake in Apple Inc. by 2.1% in Q3, owning 593,731 shares valued at $151.18 million.  
- Other institutional investors have made significant adjustments to their Apple positions, with notable increases from Norges Bank, Nuveen LLC, and PKS Advisory Services LLC.  
- Apple reported strong earnings and announced a quarterly dividend, while analysts maintain a "Moderate Buy" rating with an average price target of $289.23.

Market Beat

Direxion Semicon Bull 3X

Direxion Daily AAPL Bull 2X Shares

Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Tech ETF

T-Rex 2X Long Apple Daily Target ETF

iShares Semiconductor ETF

Associated Banc Corp Has $151.18 Million Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL