Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target Cut to $256.00 by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) had its price objective cut by The Goldman Sachs Group from $259.00 to $256.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the iPhone maker's stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. KeyCorp raised shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $233.88.

Apple Stock Down 0.5 %

AAPL traded down $1.11 on Wednesday, hitting $207.26. 10,979,467 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,636,371. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $216.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $229.42. 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 $168.15 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analysts predict that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Innovative Wealth Building LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Innovative Wealth Building LLC now owns 4,511 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,002,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 14,843 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,297,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.6% in the first quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 50,502 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $11,218,000 after acquiring an additional 793 shares in the last quarter. Guerra Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 15.9% during the first quarter. Guerra Advisors Inc now owns 18,910 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,200,000 after acquiring an additional 2,590 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.8% in the first quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC now owns 137,988 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $30,651,000 after buying an additional 1,151 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

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.