Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target Lowered to $250.00 at Wedbush

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price objective cut by investment analysts at Wedbush from $325.00 to $250.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Wedbush’s price target points to a potential upside of 36.83% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup increased their price target on Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 target price (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Loop Capital downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.05.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock traded down $5.67 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $182.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 69,175,548 shares, compared to its average volume of 54,510,020. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $229.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $233.16. The company has a market cap of $2.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.00, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Apple by 23,555.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after buying an additional 20,966,232 shares during 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.