Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target Raised to $256.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target lifted by stock analysts at Bank of America to $256.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, Stock Target Advisor reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 5.33% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on AAPL. Moffett Nathanson dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Maxim Group raised their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.68.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $243.04 on Wednesday. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $244.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $230.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $221.05.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 127.4% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after buying an additional 42,282 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Apple by 176.2% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 75,737 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,987,000 after purchasing an additional 48,312 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in Apple by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 241,410 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $41,397,000 after purchasing an additional 3,442 shares during the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC raised its position in Apple by 45.1% in the 1st quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 19,705 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,379,000 after purchasing an additional 6,124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Delta Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC now owns 70,399 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,072,000 after purchasing an additional 968 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.