Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Wedbush

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Wedbush in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $270.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock. Wedbush’s price target points to a potential upside of 27.80% from the stock’s previous close.

AAPL has been the subject of several other research reports. Scotiabank lowered Apple to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Argus raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.80.

Apple Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $211.26 on Friday. 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. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $206.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $226.66. The stock has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Apple declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Amara Financial LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth about $288,000. Simmons Bank grew its position in Apple by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 132,641 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $30,905,000 after acquiring an additional 2,086 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,972,000. SYM FINANCIAL Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 28,626 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,670,000 after buying an additional 1,695 shares during the period. Finally, Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 3,723,104 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $876,483,000 after buying an additional 103,856 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by 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.