Evercore ISI Increases Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $250.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price raised by research analysts at Evercore ISI from $220.00 to $250.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price target suggests a potential upside of 17.23% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on AAPL. DA Davidson raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Maxim Group boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.29.

Apple Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $213.25 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $189.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $220.20. The company has a market cap of $3.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.16, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple will post 6.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at about $3,026,492,000. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 23,076.4% in the first quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,584,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,200,345 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company Profile

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.