Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Rating Reiterated by Evercore ISI

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Evercore ISI in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $250.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock. Evercore ISI’s target price suggests a potential upside of 10.38% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $190.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Loop Capital raised shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price (up from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.30.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $226.49 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $220.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $195.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 145.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Apple will post 6.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,469,275. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Grimes & Company Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 407,409 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $78,438,000 after buying an additional 4,948 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323,639 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $62,310,000 after buying an additional 4,006 shares during the last quarter. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $83,229,000. Smith Salley & Associates grew its position in shares of Apple by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Smith Salley & Associates now owns 472,447 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $90,960,000 after acquiring an additional 13,039 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 9,270,449 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,795,668,000 after purchasing an additional 119,342 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% 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.