Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Earns Outperform Rating from Wedbush

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reissued by research analysts at Wedbush in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $325.00 price target on the iPhone maker's stock. Wedbush's price objective points to a potential upside of 54.64% from the stock's current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on AAPL. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $243.22.

Remove Ads

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock traded up $0.48 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $210.16. 9,527,406 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 53,230,150. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $235.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $233.83. Apple has a one year low of $164.08 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% during 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. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,307,413 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.