Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Given New $236.00 Price Target at UBS Group

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price objective lifted by stock analysts at UBS Group to $236.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Stock Target Advisor reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. UBS Group’s price target suggests a potential downside of 3.91% from the company’s previous close.

AAPL has been the topic of several other reports. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.88.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL traded down $1.50 on Tuesday, reaching $245.60. 12,298,266 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 52,289,059. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $240.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $233.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after acquiring an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Apple by 5.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after buying an additional 6,307,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. 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.