Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Raymond James Analyst Says

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price hoisted by Raymond James to $250.00 in a report released on Friday, Stock Target Advisor reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Raymond James’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 32.71% from the company’s current price.

AAPL has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Argus raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised 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. UBS Group boosted their price target on Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $245.26.

Apple Trading Down 7.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $188.38 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.08 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.90, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $229.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $233.07.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 analysts predict that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Apple by 10.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 worth $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. 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.