Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Downgraded by StockNews.com

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. DA Davidson raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given 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 $238.62.

Apple Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of AAPL traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $222.77. 37,415,281 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 61,050,145. Apple has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $237.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $223.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $198.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The transaction 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 the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,469,275. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. grew 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 during the period. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $85,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently 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.