TD Cowen Has Lowered Expectations for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target dropped by TD Cowen from $290.00 to $275.00 in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. TD Cowen’s price target suggests a potential upside of 33.92% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on AAPL. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.17.

Apple Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $205.35 on Friday. 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 has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a P/E 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 two-hundred day simple moving average of $228.61.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. Apple’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, 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 value of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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