Barclays Increases Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $184.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target raised by stock analysts at Barclays to $184.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Stock Target Advisor reports. The firm currently has a “sell” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Barclays‘s target price would indicate a potential downside of 22.31% from the stock’s current price.

AAPL has been the topic of several other reports. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.85.

Apple Stock Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $236.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.96, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. Apple has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The business’s 50-day moving average is $240.18 and its 200 day moving average is $230.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in Apple by 88.9% in 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 period. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth $71,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $77,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.