Citigroup Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price lowered by stock analysts at Citigroup from $275.00 to $245.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Citigroup’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 21.20% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on AAPL. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Apple from $290.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer downgraded Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price target (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.85.

Apple Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $202.14 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $221.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $230.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.09, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.08 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Drystone LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted 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 in the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $63,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $65,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.