Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Earns “Overweight” Rating from Morgan Stanley

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Morgan Stanley in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $273.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 10.02% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on AAPL. StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $248.13 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.81, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $232.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $223.64. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $250.80.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $71,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth about $77,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

About Apple

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.