Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Loop Capital

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was downgraded by equities researchers at Loop Capital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They currently have a $230.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock. Loop Capital’s target price points to a potential upside of 0.01% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Maxim Group raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Four equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.17.

Apple Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $229.98 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $241.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $230.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business 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 company posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 20,372.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% 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.