Moffett Nathanson Reaffirms Sell Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “sell” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Moffett Nathanson in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $188.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $202.00. Moffett Nathanson’s price objective suggests a potential downside of 22.54% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Citigroup upped their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.64.

Apple Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $242.70 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $239.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $229.66. Apple has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s 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 $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth about $42,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in Apple during the third quarter worth approximately $71,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in Apple during the third quarter worth approximately $77,000. 67.73% 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.