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

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price objective lowered by Barclays from $197.00 to $173.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has an “underweight” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would suggest a potential downside of 18.90% from the company’s current price.

AAPL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wedbush lowered their price objective on Apple from $325.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Loop Capital cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $232.63.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $213.32 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $212.98 and its 200 day moving average is $228.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.86, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $133,425,490,000 after purchasing an additional 59,835,676 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Apple by 23,555.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after buying an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.