Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $275.00 to $252.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on AAPL. Loop Capital lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Maxim Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price objective (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.22.

Apple Stock Down 1.7 %

AAPL stock opened at $216.98 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.08 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a 50-day moving average of $235.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $234.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.87%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Drystone LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $63,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.