Loop Capital Downgrades Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to Hold

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) was downgraded by Loop Capital from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $230.00 price target on the iPhone maker's stock. Loop Capital's target price points to a potential upside of 4.03% from the company's current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on AAPL. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, New Street Research reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $238.02.

Apple Stock Down 3.9 %

AAPL traded down $8.88 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $221.10. The company had a trading volume of 55,832,894 shares, compared to its average volume of 50,360,555. The company has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.31, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. 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 business's fifty day moving average price is $241.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $230.85.

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

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction 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 represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 6.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $22,121,656,000 after acquiring an additional 5,893,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.