The Goldman Sachs Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target lowered by equities research analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $286.00 to $280.00 in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 25.68% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on AAPL. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wedbush raised their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 26th. KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.05.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $222.78 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $240.97 and its 200 day moving average is $230.72. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 35,937 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,999,000 after buying an additional 1,986 shares during the period. Flavin Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,397,000. Calamos Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 611,528 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $153,139,000 after acquiring an additional 8,064 shares during the last quarter. Grunden Financial Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 34.2% in the 4th quarter. Grunden Financial Advisory Inc. now owns 4,322 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,082,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 214.3% during the 4th quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 33,285 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,335,000 after purchasing an additional 22,695 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% 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.