Apple’s (AAPL) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Rosenblatt Securities

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Rosenblatt Securities in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $263.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 39.61% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $245.26.

Apple Stock Down 7.3 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $188.38 on Thursday. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.08 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business has a 50-day moving average of $229.45 and a 200-day moving average of $232.96.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $46,868,648,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 20,372.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,272,653,000 after buying an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.