Morgan Stanley Reiterates Overweight Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by Morgan Stanley in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $273.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 16.14% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Moffett Nathanson decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.25.

Apple Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $235.06 on Monday. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.66, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $228.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $219.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in Apple in the third quarter worth $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the third quarter worth $110,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.