Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Receives “Buy” Rating from Rosenblatt Securities

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Rosenblatt Securities in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $262.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price objective points to a potential upside of 17.60% from the stock’s current price.

AAPL has been the topic of several other reports. Moffett Nathanson reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Apple from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Loop Capital downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.05.

Apple Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $222.78 on Monday. Apple has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50 day moving average is $240.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.68.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 company’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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC raised its stake in Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. 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.