The Goldman Sachs Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) had its price target lowered by The Goldman Sachs Group from $286.00 to $280.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the iPhone maker's stock.

AAPL has been the subject of a number of other reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Barclays decreased their price target on Apple from $184.00 to $183.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup raised their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Loop Capital downgraded Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $238.14.

Apple Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of AAPL traded down $0.46 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $223.37. 39,927,434 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 53,668,957. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The business has a fifty day moving average of $241.07 and a 200-day moving average of $230.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 $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. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Apple by 10.6% in 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 lifted its position in Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 6.5% during 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 buying an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 5,893,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.