Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Earns Outperform Rating from Wedbush

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Wedbush in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $325.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock. Wedbush’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 34.43% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays raised their price objective on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Moffett Nathanson restated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price target (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.88.

Apple Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $241.76 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20. Apple has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $239.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $233.75.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its position in Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $63,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently 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.