Barclays Increases Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $164.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price hoisted by research analysts at Barclays from $158.00 to $164.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “underweight” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential downside of 10.57% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on AAPL. Maxim Group started coverage on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $178.00 target price on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $196.00 price objective (up previously from $189.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $208.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.00.

Apple Trading Up 6.0 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $183.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.26. Apple has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $199.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $172.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $181.60.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 153.25% and a net margin of 26.31%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Apple will post 6.53 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $84,378,155.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Headinvest LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the third quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after buying an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 75,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,461,000 after acquiring an additional 10,425 shares during the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS grew its stake in shares of Apple by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 4,307,068 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $829,240,000 after acquiring an additional 279,311 shares during the period. Boltwood Capital Management boosted its holdings in Apple by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 37,178 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Apple by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC now owns 673,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $115,284,000 after purchasing an additional 24,634 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

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.