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

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target reduced by UBS Group from $236.00 to $210.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. UBS Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 0.78% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. China Renaissance started coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Argus upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James upped their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Maxim Group boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.88.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $208.37 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $216.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $229.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple has a twelve month low of $168.15 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after acquiring an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 23,555.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,272,653,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.