Sanford C. Bernstein Raises Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $260.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price increased by equities research analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from $240.00 to $260.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 6.84% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on AAPL. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays reduced their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.03.

Apple Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $243.36 on Friday. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $238.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $228.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lantz Financial LLC grew its position in Apple by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its position in Apple by 271.2% in the 2nd quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,098,251 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $231,314,000 after acquiring an additional 802,371 shares during the period. Crestmont Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Apple by 28.9% during the 2nd quarter. Crestmont Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,021 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC boosted its position in Apple by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC now owns 52,839 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,129,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares during the period. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 5.6% in the second quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 1,320,049 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $278,029,000 after purchasing an additional 70,145 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is 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.