Citigroup Increases Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $275.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target hoisted by Citigroup from $255.00 to $275.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Citigroup’s price target points to a potential upside of 17.49% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Raymond James increased their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Apple from $280.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America raised their target price on Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 target price (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $242.52.

Apple Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Apple stock traded down $3.52 on Friday, reaching $234.07. 65,404,208 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 58,164,684. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $241.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $230.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. On average, analysts expect that Apple will post 7.34 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % 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, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Amara Financial LLC. purchased a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its position in Apple by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC grew its position in Apple by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% 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.