KeyCorp Reaffirms “Underweight” Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “underweight” rating restated by investment analysts at KeyCorp in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They currently have a $200.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock. KeyCorp’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 15.83% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Apple from $280.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.88.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $237.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $241.56 and a 200 day moving average of $230.86. The company has a market cap of $3.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.08, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.34 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Amara Financial LLC. bought a new stake in Apple in the third quarter worth about $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after buying an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after buying an additional 126,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after acquiring an additional 2,565 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.