JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price lowered by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $360.00 to $355.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 6.77% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Citic Securities boosted their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $349.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. CICC Research boosted their target price on Apple from $310.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $355.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $303.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $343.28.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL traded down $5.82 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $332.50. 34,550,596 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 48,316,914. The company has a market cap of $4.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $333.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $296.77. Apple has a 1 year low of $243.42 and a 1 year high of $351.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $114.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.40 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 135.46%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.85 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,392 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.05, for a total transaction of $480,309.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 17,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,051,831.95. The trade was a 7.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Ben Borders sold 1,280 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.40, for a total transaction of $442,112.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 38,288 shares in the company, valued at $13,224,675.20. The trade was a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 289,252 shares of company stock worth $96,301,063. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 630,662,494 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $182,897,769,000 after buying an additional 28,321,085 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $65,950,297,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,986,090,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,443,242,000. Finally, Amundi increased its position in shares of Apple by 23.2% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 73,082,616 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $18,547,637,000 after acquiring an additional 13,780,080 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple exceeded expectations with fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $114.5 billion and earnings of $2.10 per share. Revenue increased 12% year over year, led by strong iPhone 18 Pro and Mac demand, while Services reached a record. Apple results beat Wall Street expectations on strong iPhone sales
• Positive Sentiment: Management forecast first-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue of $153.8 billion to $158.1 billion, above the roughly $152.6 billion consensus estimate, suggesting holiday demand remains robust.
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts raised their price targets or maintained Buy ratings, citing resilient iPhone demand, Services growth, Apple’s installed base and potential long-term AI opportunities. Apple Buy rating reaffirmed at $370 target
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple declared a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, maintaining its shareholder-return program, although the approximately 0.3% yield is unlikely to drive near-term trading.
• Negative Sentiment: Apple projected a 45%–46% gross margin for the December quarter, below the September quarter’s underlying level. Executives cited “unprecedented” memory-price inflation, supply constraints and higher costs associated with Siri AI. Apple’s John Ternus faces early test as memory crisis hurts profits
• Negative Sentiment: Components inventory rose sharply to $10.4 billion from $2.1 billion a year earlier, while manufacturing purchase commitments increased substantially. Investors fear Apple may absorb rising costs rather than fully pass them on to customers.
• Negative Sentiment: Slower projected Services growth, weaker Greater China results and uncertainty over Apple’s ability to monetize AI are adding pressure to a premium valuation. The margin warning outweighed the earnings beat, with memory-chip suppliers benefiting as Apple’s costs become their pricing power.

About Apple

Apple Inc designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and digital services. Its best-known products include the iPhone smartphone, Mac personal computers, iPad tablets, Apple Watch, AirPods and other accessories. The company also develops operating systems and applications that support its hardware ecosystem.

Apple’s services business includes the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Arcade, iCloud, Apple Pay and other subscription, payment and digital-content offerings.