Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target Increased to $250.00 by Analysts at Evercore ISI

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price objective hoisted by Evercore ISI from $220.00 to $250.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday, Briefing.com reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 20.11% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on AAPL. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. DZ Bank reissued a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Maxim Group boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $212.46.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $208.14 on Tuesday. Apple has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $220.20. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $188.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. Apple’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Apple by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after buying an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after buying an additional 2,018,010 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 14,395.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Apple by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,677,190,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,360 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% 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.