Apple (AAPL) – Analysts’ Recent Ratings Updates

Posted by Gary Stephens on Apr 26th, 2024

A number of firms have modified their ratings and price targets on shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) recently:

4/23/2024 – Apple had its “underweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Barclays PLC. They now have a $158.00 price target on the stock.
4/22/2024 – Apple had its price target lowered by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $210.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
4/17/2024 – Apple is now covered by analysts at Maxim Group. They set a “hold” rating and a $178.00 price target on the stock.
4/16/2024 – Apple had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Needham & Company LLC. They now have a $220.00 price target on the stock.
4/11/2024 – Apple had its price target lowered by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $215.00 to $210.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
4/9/2024 – Apple had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Wedbush. They now have a $250.00 price target on the stock.
4/1/2024 – Apple had its price target lowered by analysts at Loop Capital from $185.00 to $170.00. They now have a “hold” rating on the stock.
3/28/2024 – Apple had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by analysts at DZ Bank AG. They now have a $180.00 price target on the stock.
3/25/2024 – Apple had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by analysts at UBS Group AG. They now have a $190.00 price target on the stock.
3/22/2024 – Apple had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Morgan Stanley. They now have a $220.00 price target on the stock.
3/21/2024 – Apple had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Wedbush. They now have a $250.00 price target on the stock.
3/5/2024 – Apple had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Rosenblatt Securities. They now have a $189.00 price target on the stock.
2/28/2024 – Apple had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Wedbush. They now have a $250.00 price target on the stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL traded down $0.59 on Friday, reaching $169.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 44,526,164 shares, compared to its average volume of 60,314,906. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $173.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $181.85. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.99 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.88 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 1.2% in the first quarter. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. now owns 159,171 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,295,000 after acquiring an additional 1,955 shares during the period. Horizon Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 20.5% in the first quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 4,225 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $725,000 after acquiring an additional 718 shares during the period. SlateStone Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 2.6% in the first quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 321,745 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $55,172,000 after acquiring an additional 8,136 shares during the period. Coastline Trust Co lifted its stake in Apple by 6.5% in the first quarter. Coastline Trust Co now owns 194,472 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,348,000 after acquiring an additional 11,921 shares during the period. Finally, Guild Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 2.2% in the first quarter. Guild Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,528 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,834,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.