Monness Crespi & Hardt Lowers Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $245.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price objective reduced by equities researchers at Monness Crespi & Hardt from $260.00 to $245.00 in a research report issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt’s target price suggests a potential upside of 19.31% from the company’s current price.

AAPL has been the topic of several other reports. Oppenheimer cut Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.17.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $205.35 on Friday. Apple has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $212.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $228.61.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 258.1% in the first quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 124,621 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,682,000 after purchasing an additional 89,819 shares during the last quarter. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. now owns 80,856 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $17,960,000 after buying an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,051,179 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $233,498,000 after buying an additional 119,308 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP grew its position in Apple by 0.4% during the first quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 316,414 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $70,285,000 after buying an additional 1,411 shares during the period. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 6.7% during the first quarter. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. now owns 1,664 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $351,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. 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.