Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Barclays

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “underweight” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Barclays in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $186.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock. Barclays‘s target price would suggest a potential downside of 17.59% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.76.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded down $7.31 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $225.69. 27,432,410 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 61,506,914. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $3.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $222.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $202.80.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of Apple 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,469,275. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,912,466,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,677,190,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,360 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 54,702,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,531,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,807 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

About Apple

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.