Rosenblatt Securities Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Rosenblatt Securities in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $263.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 39.61% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on AAPL. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Loop Capital downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $245.26.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $188.38 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business’s 50 day moving average is $229.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $232.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.90, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. Apple has a 12-month low of $164.08 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Research analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % 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 the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Apple by 10.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,999,145,000 after buying an additional 6,307,413 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. 67.73% of the stock is 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.