Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday.

AAPL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $190.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $247.61 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three 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 price target of $238.76.

Apple Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $225.67 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $222.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $203.50. Apple has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

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

Insider Activity at Apple

In related 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 458,619 shares of company stock worth $101,352,630. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $33,912,466,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Apple in the first quarter worth about $3,026,492,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 23,076.4% in the first quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,584,512,000 after buying an additional 9,200,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after buying an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently 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.