Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target Raised to $248.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price upped by Barclays from $239.00 to $248.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Barclays currently has an underweight rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $330.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Moffett Nathanson boosted their price target on Apple from $241.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $325.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $297.58.

Apple Stock Down 0.8%

AAPL stock opened at $260.29 on Tuesday. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $288.62. The business’s 50-day moving average is $263.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $260.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.17. Apple had a return on equity of 159.94% and a net margin of 27.04%.The business had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $138.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.15%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $387,749,545,000 after purchasing an additional 26,856,752 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 604,056,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $164,218,801,000 after acquiring an additional 6,555,392 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 358,032,517 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $97,031,587,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866,103 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Apple by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 230,483,035 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $62,659,118,000 after acquiring an additional 1,379,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,266,468,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Product blitz strengthens long-term revenue/AI thesis — Apple unveiled the low‑cost MacBook Neo ($599), iPhone 17e and AI-focused Macs, which analysts say could kickstart an AI-driven upgrade cycle and broaden Apple’s addressable market (students/price‑sensitive buyers). This supports bullish price targets and the idea of a hardware-led revenue catalyst. Apple debuts $599 MacBook Neo to challenge Chromebooks, Windows PCs
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish analyst support — Wedbush and other brokers reiterated high targets (e.g., $350) and framed the new lineup as validation of Apple’s AI hardware strategy, giving investors confidence in multi‑quarter upside if an upgrade cycle materializes. Apple’s AI Hardware Blitz Could Send The Stock 33% Higher
• Positive Sentiment: Addressable‑market lift from low‑price models — Analysts (e.g., Gene Munster) argue the MacBook Neo and iPhone 17e could incrementally boost revenues and help Apple gain share in education/entry segments. Apple’s $599 MacBook Neo May Boost Revenue By 0.5%
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst moves — some firms nudged targets or maintained ratings (Rosenblatt raised to $268, Barclays updated targets), producing no clear consensus; investors must decide whether upgrades justify current valuation multiples. Benzinga (analyst updates)
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest/market data noise — published short‑interest figures in the feed are clearly faulty (zeros/NaN), so they’re not a reliable driver of today’s move.
• Negative Sentiment: Market‑wide volatility & geopolitical risk — broader tech weakness tied to Iran tensions and risk‑off flows is pressuring high‑beta mega caps, contributing to Apple’s pullback despite product news. Magnificent 7 Stock Report: Apple Leads, NVIDIA Fades, Microsoft Crashes
• Negative Sentiment: Concerns about low‑end push and technicals — some commentary frames the cheap‑product strategy as a sign of weaker demand or margin pressure, and technical analysts flagged bearish crossovers that could spur further selling if confirmed. Apple stock flashes ‘worst bearish cross’

About Apple

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.

Apple’s principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.