Apple’s (AAPL) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Monness Crespi & Hardt

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Monness Crespi & Hardt in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Stock Target Advisor reports. They presently have a $245.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 11.94% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Moffett Nathanson assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, August 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $211.00 price target on the stock. Cfra boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.62.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock traded down $1.96 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $218.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,857,658 shares, compared to its average volume of 60,987,918. The firm has a market cap of $3.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.94, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $223.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $197.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Apple has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple will post 6.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,223,062.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc acquired a new stake in Apple in the first quarter worth about $35,000. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. increased its position in Apple by 657.1% in the fourth quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $85,000. 60.41% 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.