Bank of America Has Lowered Expectations for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) had its price objective cut by research analysts at Bank of America from $250.00 to $240.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the iPhone maker's stock. Bank of America's price objective points to a potential upside of 14.68% from the stock's current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on AAPL. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Loop Capital downgraded shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Wedbush decreased their price objective on Apple from $325.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $233.88.

Apple Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $0.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $209.28. The stock had a trading volume of 38,183,408 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,765,391. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple has a twelve month low of $169.11 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.22, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $215.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $229.31.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $787,631,000 after purchasing an additional 588,427 shares during the period. Latitude Advisors LLC lifted its position in Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,016,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP grew its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 184,977 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $43,100,000 after buying an additional 576 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 1,305,000 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $304,065,000 after acquiring an additional 17,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 98.2% in the 3rd quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 45,416 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $10,582,000 after acquiring an additional 22,502 shares during the period. 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.