Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Given Overweight Rating at Morgan Stanley

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating restated by Morgan Stanley in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $273.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 10.10% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on AAPL. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp lowered Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.78.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $247.96 on Friday. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $250.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $232.08 and its 200-day moving average is $223.00.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its position in Apple by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $406,099,000 after purchasing an additional 95,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its position in shares of Apple by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 149,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $34,768,000 after purchasing an additional 19,670 shares during the period. 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.