Barclays Increases Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $248.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price upped by Barclays from $239.00 to $248.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm presently has an “underweight” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective indicates a potential downside of 5.53% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on AAPL. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Apple from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday. Moffett Nathanson increased their price objective on Apple from $241.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $297.56.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $262.52 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $264.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $260.06. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.17. Apple had a return on equity of 159.94% and a net margin of 27.04%.The business had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $138.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.40 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $387,749,545,000 after buying an additional 26,856,752 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Apple by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 604,056,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $164,218,801,000 after buying an additional 6,555,392 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 358,032,517 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $97,031,587,000 after buying an additional 1,866,103 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Apple by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 230,483,035 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $62,659,118,000 after acquiring an additional 1,379,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,266,468,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New addressable market: Apple launched the low‑cost MacBook Neo starting at $599 ($499 student), a clear push into education and budget PC segments that could drive volume and new users for the ecosystem. Apple debuts $599 MacBook Neo to challenge Chromebooks, Windows PCs
• Positive Sentiment: AI and upgrade cycle upside: Apple rolled out M5 chips, new displays and device updates that support an AI/hardware upgrade thesis; some Wall Street firms maintain bullish targets and Buy ratings reflecting multi‑quarter upside. Wedbush maintains $350 Apple target as product blitz reinforces AI hardware push
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed pricing strategy: Apple paired the Neo with higher base prices for M5 MacBook Air/Pro models — a potential boost to ASPs but an uncertain demand trade‑off in a price‑sensitive market. Apple raises MacBook prices across the board as M5 chips, new displays signal AI-first strategy
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term market reaction: Despite the announcements, shares slipped as investors digested potential margin pressure from the mix of low‑priced models and costlier M5 upgrades; some outlets reported analyst target revisions and short‑term selling. Analyst revises Apple stock price target as new MacBook Neo announced
• Negative Sentiment: Supply/cost risks: A global memory‑chip shortage and higher component costs have forced Apple to raise some Mac prices and could squeeze margins or constrain supply for higher‑end models. Apple Uses Low Prices to Attack Rivals During Memory-Chip Crunch

About Apple

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.

Apple’s principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.