Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Morgan Stanley

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $273.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 20.54% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on AAPL. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective (up previously from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $170.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Maxim Group boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.30.

Apple Stock Down 0.7 %

AAPL opened at $226.49 on Tuesday. Apple has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $220.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $195.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 145.35%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple will post 6.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other 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 value of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,912,466,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,677,190,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,360 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 54,702,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,531,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Apple by 5.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.