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

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Bank of America in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $256.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 12.69% from the company’s previous close.

AAPL has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Apple from $190.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $187.00 to $186.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.51.

Apple Stock Up 0.1 %

AAPL stock opened at $227.18 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $220.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 145.35%. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.26 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple will post 6.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,469,275. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 188,884 shares of company stock worth $38,092,387 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $33,912,466,000. 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 acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Apple during the first quarter worth about $3,026,492,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 23,076.4% in the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,584,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,200,345 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Apple

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.