Bank of America Lowers Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $250.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price lowered by Bank of America from $265.00 to $250.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 32.71% from the company’s current price.

AAPL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Maxim Group increased their price target on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $245.26.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $188.38 on Thursday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $229.45 and a 200-day moving average of $232.96. Apple has a one year low of $164.08 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $65,000. 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.