Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Lowered to “Underperform” Rating by Jefferies Financial Group

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was downgraded by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They presently have a $200.75 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock, down from their prior target price of $211.84. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 12.71% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.17.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $229.98 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $241.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $230.79. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. O Connor Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $896,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 0.5% during the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 1.3% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $813,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Menard Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,848,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.