Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Earns “Underperform” Rating from Jefferies Financial Group

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “underperform” rating restated by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $170.62 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $167.88. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price suggests a potential downside of 16.91% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective 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. Oppenheimer cut shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $263.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.17.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $205.35 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $212.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $228.61. Apple has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Elite Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth $58,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.