Apple’s (AAPL) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $260.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price indicates a potential upside of 9.42% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.88.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $237.62 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $241.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $230.81. Apple has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pure Portfolios Holdings LLC increased its stake in Apple by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Pure Portfolios Holdings LLC now owns 28,266 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,078,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the period. Hoge Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Hoge Financial Services LLC now owns 5,450 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $2,469,000. WBH Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. WBH Advisory Inc. now owns 76,594 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $19,181,000 after buying an additional 1,555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 23,051 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,772,000 after buying an additional 1,495 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is 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.