Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Earns Buy Rating from Bank of America

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities researchers at Bank of America in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $253.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock, down from their prior target price of $256.00. Bank of America‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 13.12% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Maxim Group upped their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.05.

Apple Stock Down 0.1 %

Apple stock opened at $223.66 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $241.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.77. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Lantz Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares during the last quarter. Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 7.4% in the second quarter. Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. now owns 11,422 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,406,000 after acquiring an additional 787 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 21,243 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,474,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. LVZ Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter. LVZ Inc. now owns 23,892 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,032,000 after purchasing an additional 4,234 shares during the period. Finally, JB Capital LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 150,216 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $31,638,000 after purchasing an additional 18,429 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.