Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Rating Reiterated by Needham & Company LLC

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $260.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price points to a potential upside of 17.81% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on AAPL. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price (up from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Loop Capital raised shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson initiated coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, August 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $211.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.17.

Apple Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $220.69 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $222.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $199.41. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.23. The firm has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,469,275. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,469,275. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643 shares in the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,406,000. Barden Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 132.8% in the 4th quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,283,000 after buying an additional 18,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sunpointe LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $4,782,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.