Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) PT Raised to $265.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target raised by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $245.00 to $265.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 21.84% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $196.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $216.00 to $273.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price (up from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $228.62.

Apple Trading Down 0.5 %

AAPL stock opened at $217.49 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.24. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $210.28 and its 200 day moving average is $189.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 14,395.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Apple by 1.4% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at $3,026,492,000. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC raised its position in Apple by 23,076.4% in the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,584,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,200,345 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

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.