Wedbush Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by research analysts at Wedbush in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $325.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 44.78% from the stock’s previous close.

AAPL has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 target price (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.14.

Apple Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Apple stock traded up $0.65 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $224.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 20,758,073 shares, compared to its average volume of 52,168,563. Apple has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $241.07 and a 200-day moving average of $230.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the second quarter worth $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at $71,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth about $77,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.