Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target Lowered to $230.00 at DA Davidson

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price trimmed by DA Davidson from $290.00 to $230.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on AAPL. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.85.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $202.52 on Monday. Apple has a 12-month low of $164.08 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $222.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.99. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in shares of Apple by 21.1% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $787,631,000 after buying an additional 588,427 shares during the period. Latitude Advisors LLC lifted its position in Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,016,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. now owns 185,781 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $43,287,000 after buying an additional 20,461 shares in the last quarter. Echo Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Echo Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,153 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,380,000 after buying an additional 2,968 shares during the period. Finally, Koss Olinger Consulting LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC now owns 18,011 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,197,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.