Rosenblatt Securities Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by analysts at Rosenblatt Securities in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $263.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 28.07% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $202.33 to $167.88 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Maxim Group raised their target price on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.25.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $205.35 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $212.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $228.63. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. O Connor Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $896,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,260,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Menard Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,848,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hanseatic Management Services Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 3,775 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. 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.