Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Rating Reiterated by Citigroup

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Citigroup in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Stock Target Advisor reports. They presently have a $255.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock. Citigroup’s price target points to a potential upside of 13.00% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.76.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $225.67 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $3.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $222.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $203.50. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple will post 6.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,223,062.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 458,619 shares of company stock valued at $101,352,630. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc acquired a new stake in Apple in the first quarter worth about $35,000. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. raised its position in shares of Apple by 657.1% during the 4th quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $85,000. 60.41% 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.