Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Given New $250.00 Price Target at Wedbush

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price objective lowered by investment analysts at Wedbush from $325.00 to $250.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 36.83% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Apple from $275.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $290.00 price objective on Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.05.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded down $5.67 during trading on Monday, reaching $182.71. 69,175,548 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 54,510,020. The stock has a market cap of $2.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.00, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $229.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $233.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple 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 owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 5.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,999,145,000 after acquiring an additional 6,307,413 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $46,868,648,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.