Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Upgraded to “Outperform” at Sanford C. Bernstein

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was upgraded by stock analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Briefing.com reports. The firm currently has a $195.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 15.18% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on AAPL. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.05.

Apple Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $169.30 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.27. Apple has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $199.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $173.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $181.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,802 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,877,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Flagstone Financial Management lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,638,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Kraft Davis & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Kraft Davis & Associates LLC now owns 6,716 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,155,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Planning Corporation lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.