Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Rating Reiterated by Needham & Company LLC

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $260.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price suggests a potential upside of 24.24% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on AAPL. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. DA Davidson raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Melius Research upped their target price on Apple from $227.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Cfra upped their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Apple from $190.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.29.

Apple Stock Down 4.8 %

AAPL stock traded down $10.59 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $209.27. 117,477,490 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 63,807,281. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $3.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $213.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $191.35. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 145.35%. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.26 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Verus Financial Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory increased its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Core Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Lowery Thomas LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $949,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently 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.