DA Davidson Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reissued by stock analysts at DA Davidson in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $270.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock. DA Davidson’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 4.05% from the company’s current price.

AAPL has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $239.00 price objective (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. KGI Securities raised shares of Apple to an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird set a $300.00 price objective on Apple in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $325.00 target price (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $289.23.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $259.48 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.80, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $268.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $251.72. Apple has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $288.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.17. Apple had a return on equity of 171.22% and a net margin of 27.04%.The firm had revenue of $143.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $138.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,095,030.54. This trade represents a 19.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Isthmus Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.4% during the third quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 97,177 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 5,808 shares during the last quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 110.9% during the third quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1,800.0% during the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Nexus Investment Management ULC raised its holdings in Apple by 333.3% during the second quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth $65,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Record quarter driven by iPhone 17 and China — Apple beat revenue and EPS expectations, reported record iPhone sales and gave strong March-quarter revenue/margin guidance, supporting bullish near-term fundamentals. Apple sales, profit beat
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades/price-target increases — Several firms raised targets and reiterated buy ratings after the beat (including TD Cowen, JPMorgan, Monness Crespi & Hardt), which supports upside sentiment among institutional investors. Analyst notes
• Neutral Sentiment: AI strategy remains ambiguous — Apple announced partnerships (e.g., Google Gemini) and made AI-related M&A (Q.ai), but offered limited execution details; these moves signal intent but leave monetization and competitive positioning unclear. AI details unclear
• Neutral Sentiment: Potential supply-chain diversification — Reports that Apple is exploring U.S. foundry partners (e.g., Intel) could ease long-term sourcing risk but are early-stage and not an immediate fix for 2026 capacity issues. Intel foundry reports
• Negative Sentiment: Rising memory-chip costs and shortages — Apple warned memory prices are beginning to bite; suppliers like Samsung and SK Hynix are prioritizing AI chips, tightening supply and pressuring gross margins if costs stay elevated. Memory cost warning
• Negative Sentiment: iPhone production constraints — Multiple reports say TSMC/other chip shortages are limiting Apple’s ability to meet iPhone demand, forcing Apple to prioritize premium models and potentially capping unit growth despite strong demand. TSMC supply short
• Negative Sentiment: Talent and execution questions in AI — Reports of AI researcher departures and commentary that the Google partnership could limit Apple’s AI upside have soured investor enthusiasm for Apple’s AI prospects. AI researcher departures

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.

Apple’s principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.