Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was downgraded by investment analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $170.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock, down from their previous target price of $195.00. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 5.92% from the company’s current price.
Several other analysts also recently issued reports on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Sunday, October 15th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price target (up previously from $170.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 3rd. They noted that the move was a valuation call. UBS Group set a $190.00 price target on Apple and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 4th. Zacks Investment Research raised Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $197.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Pacific Crest raised Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $187.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, October 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $202.53.
Apple (AAPL) traded down $7.28 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $160.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 85,940,481 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,740,000. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Apple has a 52 week low of $128.16 and a 52 week high of $180.10. The company has a market cap of $788,300.00, a P/E ratio of 16.51, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.33.
In other news, SVP Johny Srouji sold 5,760 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.40, for a total value of $1,004,544.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,560 shares in the company, valued at $14,224,064. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel J. Riccio sold 15,641 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.78, for a total value of $2,733,733.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,739 shares in the company, valued at $2,401,302.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 128,412 shares of company stock worth $22,115,155 over the last quarter. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 136,189 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $19,614,000 after purchasing an additional 9,663 shares during the period. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA grew its stake in shares of Apple by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA now owns 37,336 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,377,000 after purchasing an additional 779 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 23.9% in the 2nd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC now owns 21,558 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,105,000 after purchasing an additional 4,154 shares during the period. Carnick & Kubik Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter. Carnick & Kubik Group LLC now owns 20,744 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,987,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612 shares during the period. Finally, GenTrust LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1,022.9% in the 2nd quarter. GenTrust LLC now owns 34,315 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,942,000 after purchasing an additional 31,259 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.26% of the company’s stock.
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About Apple
Apple Inc (Apple) designs, manufactures and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, and a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. The Company’s products and services include iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod, Apple TV, a portfolio of consumer and professional software applications, the iOS and OS X operating systems, iCloud, and a variety of accessory, service and support offerings.
