Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Lowered to "Market Perform" Rating by Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report report published on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $262.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $238.05.

Apple Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $239.63 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The business's fifty day moving average price is $241.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $230.81. The company has a market capitalization of $3.60 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.49, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company's revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

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.