Analysts Set Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Target Price at $238.05

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirty-five research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $238.05.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a "sell" rating and issued a $188.00 target price (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 25,285.2% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 9,628,864 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,411,260,000 after purchasing an additional 9,590,933 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 0.3 %

AAPL stock traded down $0.76 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $238.60. The stock had a trading volume of 7,286,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 55,215,137. The company's 50-day moving average price is $241.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $230.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $3.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. Apple has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Company Profile

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.