UBS Group Reiterates Neutral Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reissued by UBS Group in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $190.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock. UBS Group’s price objective indicates a potential downside of 13.74% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on AAPL. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Wedbush increased their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. DA Davidson upgraded Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. One equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.71.

Apple Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $220.27 on Monday. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $220.38. The company has a market capitalization of $3.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $193.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.44. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,378,155.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 192,355 shares of company stock worth $34,771,329 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $38,406,000. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 132.8% in the fourth quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,283,000 after purchasing an additional 18,615 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.