Goldman Sachs’ Strategic Factor Allocation Fund initiated a fresh position in Apple by acquiring 251,607 shares, marking its first meaningful entry into the company during the quarter. The purchase represents a significant allocation for the fund, reflecting confidence in Apple’s near-term growth prospects driven by anticipated robust iPhone sales ahead of its January 29th earnings report. This move by a leading institutional manager underscores growing buy-side conviction in Apple’s ability to sustain revenue gains through both product upgrades and services expansion.

Peter Thiel’s Thiel Macro fund executed a strategic rotation by selling down 76% of its Tesla holdings and redeploying a substantial portion of proceeds into Apple. Despite maintaining Tesla as its single largest position, Thiel has positioned Apple as his smallest allocation, effectively hedging across divergent equity scenarios. Should Tesla’s robotaxi ambitions falter, Apple stands to benefit as a blue-chip safe-haven, while any unexpected breakthrough in Tesla’s autonomous roadmap would still allow Thiel to capitalize via residual exposure to technology leaders.

Investors are bracing for Apple’s upcoming quarterly results, with consensus estimates calling for 7.28 earnings per share for the full fiscal year. In its latest report, Apple delivered $1.85 in EPS—beating the $1.74 consensus—and generated $102.47 billion in revenue versus expectations of $101.65 billion, marking an 8.7% year-over-year revenue increase and a 26.9% net margin. Ahead of the report, Evercore ISI and Morgan Stanley have both reaffirmed outperform/overweight ratings, while a slew of firms including Bank of America and CLSA have lifted price targets into the $320–330 range, citing strong services growth, healthy gross margins, and significant share-repurchase activity.

Not all institutional managers are adding to Apple at current levels. City Holding Co. reduced its stake by 5.4%, selling 5,642 shares to finish the quarter with 99,754 shares, valued at approximately $25.4 million—making Apple its fourth-largest position. Similarly, Bigelow Investment Advisors trimmed its holding by 13.7%, offloading 4,349 shares and exiting the period with 27,346 shares, worth about $6.96 million. These modest trims come amid portfolio rebalancing ahead of earnings, but Apple remains a top-five holding for both firms and continues to account for roughly 3% of their managed assets.