Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Raymond James Analyst Says

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price lifted by investment analysts at Raymond James to $250.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday, Stock Target Advisor reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Raymond James’ target price indicates a potential upside of 12.29% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Maxim Group upped their price target 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. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Apple to $184.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.02.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $222.64 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $241.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.85. The stock has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. Apple has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, 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.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. O Connor Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $896,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 0.5% during the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,249,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 1.3% during the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Menard Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 0.4% during the third quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,848,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.