Piper Sandler Reaffirms Neutral Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Piper Sandler in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $225.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 1.05% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.62.

Apple Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $222.66 on Tuesday. Apple has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.63, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $223.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $198.06.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple will post 6.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the 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 approximately $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of Apple 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,469,275. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $33,912,466,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.6% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 54,702,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,531,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,807 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.