Moffett Nathanson Has Lowered Expectations for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target cut by Moffett Nathanson from $211.00 to $202.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Moffett Nathanson’s price objective suggests a potential downside of 11.90% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. KeyCorp lowered Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Apple Stock Up 0.6 %

AAPL stock traded up $1.27 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $229.29. 7,935,583 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 58,383,887. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $227.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $217.00. Apple has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.49. The company has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in Apple by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after buying an additional 7,606 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after acquiring an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $406,099,000 after acquiring an additional 95,235 shares during the last quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 387.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,128,000 after purchasing an additional 19,352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gentry Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $876,000. 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.