Morgan Stanley Cuts Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $210.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price objective decreased by Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $210.00 in a research note released on Monday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. UBS Group reiterated a hold rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 25th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Oppenheimer reissued an outperform rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Maxim Group initiated coverage on Apple in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. They set a hold rating and a $178.00 price target for the company. Finally, DZ Bank reissued a hold rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $203.05.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $165.84 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $174.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $182.10. Apple has a one year low of $162.80 and a one year high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.88 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Apple will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,802 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,877,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Flagstone Financial Management grew its stake in Apple by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,638,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Kraft Davis & Associates LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Kraft Davis & Associates LLC now owns 6,716 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,155,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Planning Corporation grew its stake in Apple by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. 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.