Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $247.61 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Maxim Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $203.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.17.

Apple Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $228.20 on Friday. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.23. The company has a market capitalization of $3.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $222.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $200.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 is available through this link. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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. Insiders sold a total of 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $33,912,466,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Apple by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,677,190,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,360 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 54,702,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,531,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Apple by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. 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.