Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) had its price objective trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $252.00 to $220.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the iPhone maker's stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $240.26.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL traded up $7.73 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $198.15. The stock had a trading volume of 87,256,357 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,952,380. The company has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. 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 12-month low of $164.08 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company's 50-day moving average is $222.87 and its 200 day moving average is $231.14.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Apple's payout ratio is 15.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amara Financial LLC. acquired a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $16,269,000 after acquiring an additional 2,565 shares during the period. Silicon Valley Capital Partners grew its position in shares of Apple by 12.8% during the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $59,122,000 after acquiring an additional 28,799 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 4.2% during the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 96,589 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $22,505,000 after acquiring an additional 3,935 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management lifted its position in Apple by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 276,791 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $64,492,000 after purchasing an additional 6,711 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.