Evercore ISI Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by equities researchers at Evercore ISI in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $250.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock. Evercore ISI’s target price points to a potential upside of 10.04% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Maxim Group raised their target price on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective (up from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Cfra boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.51.

Apple Stock Performance

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

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 145.35% and a net margin of 26.44%. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,223,062.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 188,884 shares of company stock worth $38,092,387. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC grew its position in Apple by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $949,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.