Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Research Coverage Started at Maxim Group

Equities researchers at Maxim Group assumed coverage on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Stock Target Advisor reports. The brokerage set a “hold” rating and a $178.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock. Maxim Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 5.09% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on AAPL. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Apple from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Redburn Partners downgraded Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.34.

Apple Stock Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $169.38 on Wednesday. Apple has a 12-month low of $162.80 and a 12-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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $176.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $182.31.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Apple will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $84,378,155.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $84,378,155.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Searcy Financial Services Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of Apple by 2.6% in the first quarter. Searcy Financial Services Inc. ADV now owns 49,490 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,487,000 after buying an additional 1,241 shares in the last quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the first quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. now owns 44,631 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,653,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Monumental Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 2.3% in the first quarter. Monumental Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,154 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 12.4% in the first quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 136,901 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $23,476,000 after buying an additional 15,089 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its position in shares of Apple by 14.4% in the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 74,025 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,694,000 after buying an additional 9,297 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.