JPMorgan Chase & Co. Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price objective lifted by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $230.00 to $250.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 18.38% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group raised Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $170.62 to $188.32 in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.11.

Apple Stock Up 0.6%

AAPL stock opened at $211.18 on Thursday. Apple has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $204.57 and its 200-day moving average is $215.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued 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 the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback 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 repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Burkett Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,199,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 2.8% in the first quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,045,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp lifted its stake in Apple by 3,368.2% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $113,062,000 after purchasing an additional 438,471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in Apple by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 764,075 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $192,700,000 after purchasing an additional 83,997 shares during the last quarter. 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.