Citigroup Reiterates "Buy" Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by equities research analysts at Citigroup in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $255.00 price target on the iPhone maker's stock. Citigroup's price target would indicate a potential upside of 11.83% from the company's current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, August 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Evercore ISI reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $234.51.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL traded up $0.85 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $228.03. 35,874,227 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 61,951,355. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $3.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. Apple has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.23. The business's 50 day moving average is $220.53 and its 200-day moving average is $194.75.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 145.35%. The company's revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 188,884 shares of company stock valued at $38,092,387. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,912,466,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $253,766,929,000 after buying an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,026,492,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 23,076.4% during the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,584,512,000 after buying an additional 9,200,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,603,000 after buying an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% 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.