DA Davidson Reaffirms Neutral Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by analysts at DA Davidson in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $270.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock. DA Davidson’s price target points to a potential downside of 11.06% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AAPL. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $364.00 to $360.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, June 5th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Apple from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective (down from $253.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $331.60.

Apple Trading Down 9.0%

Apple stock traded down $29.84 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $303.59. 48,219,540 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 50,558,230. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $201.50 and a fifty-two week high of $344.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.71, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $309.51 and its 200-day moving average is $281.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $109.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 146.69%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.57 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Apple will post 8.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ben Borders sold 116 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.14, for a total value of $34,236.24. Following the transaction, the insider owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,425,754.82. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. LCM Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.2% in the second quarter. LCM Capital Management Inc now owns 44,726 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,942,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. WealthCare Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 132.8% in the 2nd quarter. WealthCare Asset Management LLC now owns 44,244 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,802,000 after purchasing an additional 25,241 shares in the last quarter. Invenio Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Invenio Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,443 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,179,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. GatePass Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. GatePass Capital LLC now owns 5,628 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the period. Finally, AGP Franklin LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. AGP Franklin LLC now owns 21,592 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,248,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple reported fiscal third-quarter revenue of $109.4 billion, up 16% year over year, while diluted EPS rose 29% to $2.02—beating consensus estimates. iPhone revenue jumped 22% to $54.3 billion and Mac revenue increased 29% to $10.4 billion. Apple reports third quarter results
• Positive Sentiment: The company highlighted record installed-base levels, strong product demand and continued opportunities to use Apple Intelligence and a hybrid AI strategy to support device sales and potentially expand iCloud monetization. Apple hybrid AI strategy
• Positive Sentiment: TD Cowen raised its price target to $400 and assigned a Buy rating. Other analysts, including Goldman Sachs, Citi and Baird, maintained bullish views, citing premium hardware pricing, AI catalysts and long-term services growth.
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple declared a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share. Investors are also assessing a new U.S. hardware-leasing program with Klarna, which could encourage faster upgrades but may affect how customers finance purchases.
• Neutral Sentiment: Tim Cook’s final earnings call before his planned September departure adds a leadership-transition consideration, although the company’s operating results remained strong.
• Negative Sentiment: Apple forecast fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $111.7 billion to $113.7 billion, below the roughly $114.3 billion analyst consensus. The outlook was pressured by “very significant” supply constraints and an expected worsening impact from memory shortages. Apple supply constraints outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Cook described soaring memory prices as a “100-year flood.” Higher DRAM and other component costs threaten margins, while Apple is evaluating alternatives—including possible pricing changes—and has warned that shortages could affect iPhones, Macs and iPads.
• Negative Sentiment: The earnings beat benefited materially from tariff refunds, including approximately $0.11 per share and a roughly two-percentage-point gross-margin benefit. Investors may view that support as temporary, with one analysis attributing most of the EPS surprise to the refunds.
• Negative Sentiment: Services revenue reached a record $30.7 billion but missed expectations, while China performance was weaker than hoped. Slower services growth, supply-chain risks and a premium valuation intensified the sell-the-news reaction.

About Apple

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.

Apple’s principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.