Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Friday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. UBS Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.23.

Apple Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $3.00 on Friday, reaching $222.91. 65,245,321 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 59,395,426. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Apple has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.49. The stock has a market cap of $3.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $227.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $212.03.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.15. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,807 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after purchasing an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Apple by 7.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,369,852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474,887 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 3.2% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,291,583,000 after buying an additional 1,065,759 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.