Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-five research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $238.05.

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Apple from $265.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $184.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Loop Capital lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. O Connor Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $896,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Menard Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the third quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,848,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $239.36 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.60 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $241.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $230.75. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.