Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Barclays Analyst Says

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price objective raised by equities research analysts at Barclays to $184.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Stock Target Advisor reports. The firm currently has a “sell” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Barclays‘s price target suggests a potential downside of 22.35% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.64.

Apple Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $5.73 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $236.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,210,900 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,582,883. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $239.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $229.75. Apple has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its stake in Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $71,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.