Apple’s (AAPL) Buy Rating Reiterated at Bank of America

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by analysts at Bank of America in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $253.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock, down from their previous price target of $256.00. Bank of America‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 13.12% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $184.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Loop Capital lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.05.

Apple Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $223.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $241.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.77. The company has a market cap of $3.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Drystone LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the second quarter worth $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at $71,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% 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.