Bank of America Reiterates Buy Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by research analysts at Bank of America in a note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $253.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock, down from their previous target price of $256.00. Bank of America‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 13.56% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on AAPL. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $184.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.05.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $222.78 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $240.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $230.69. Apple has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related 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 value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. 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

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in Apple during the third quarter worth approximately $71,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently 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.