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

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by research analysts at Bank of America in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $235.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 18.22% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on AAPL. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays cut their price target on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.86.

Apple Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $198.78 on Tuesday. Apple has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business’s 50 day moving average is $200.92 and its 200-day moving average is $223.60.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,337,000 after buying an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 3,368.2% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $113,062,000 after buying an additional 438,471 shares in the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in Apple by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 764,075 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $192,700,000 after buying an additional 83,997 shares in the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,308,000 after buying an additional 1,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Berkshire Bank boosted its stake in Apple by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 89,580 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,433,000 after buying an additional 2,360 shares in the last quarter. 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.