DA Davidson Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Apple Earnings

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) – Equities research analysts at DA Davidson reduced their FY2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of Apple in a report issued on Tuesday, April 15th. DA Davidson analyst G. Luria now forecasts that the iPhone maker will post earnings of $7.35 per share for the year, down from their previous estimate of $7.44. DA Davidson currently has a “Buy” rating and a $230.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Apple’s current full-year earnings is $7.28 per share.

AAPL has been the subject of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $202.33 to $167.88 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Apple from $325.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.85.

Apple Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $196.79 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple has a twelve month low of $164.08 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $220.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $230.28. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released 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%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Amara Financial LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $288,000. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after buying an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its stake in Apple by 12.8% during the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $59,122,000 after buying an additional 28,799 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 96,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,505,000 after buying an additional 3,935 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 276,791 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $64,492,000 after acquiring an additional 6,711 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

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.