Brokerages Set Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target at $297.58

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-six analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have issued a hold recommendation, twenty-two have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $297.5833.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $325.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $330.00 price objective on Apple in a report on Wednesday, March 4th.

Apple Trading Down 0.6%

NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $1.42 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $254.34. The company had a trading volume of 5,369,668 shares, compared to its average volume of 48,552,941. Apple has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $288.62. The company has a market cap of $3.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50-day moving average of $262.49 and a 200 day moving average of $261.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Launch of lower-priced devices (MacBook Neo, iPhone 17e) broadens Apple’s addressable market and could drive unit share gains, especially in education and price-sensitive segments; early reviews call the MacBook Neo a disruptive entrant. How Apple’s new low-cost MacBook Neo may shake up the market
• Positive Sentiment: India is planning fresh incentives for local phone manufacturing, which could lower Apple’s supply-chain costs and boost exports from a key growth market. That supports longer-term revenue diversification outside China. India plans fresh incentives for phone production in boost for Apple, Samsung
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst moves are mixed-to-muted: Rosenblatt nudged its price target slightly higher but kept a Neutral rating, signaling limited near-term catalyst consensus among sell‑side coverage. Rosenblatt Lifts PT on Apple, Maintains Netural Rating
• Negative Sentiment: Apple will cut its App Store commission in mainland China to 25% from 30% after apparent regulatory pressure — a direct hit to Services margins and a concession that may weigh on near-term revenue from one of its biggest markets. Apple cuts China App Store commission fees after government pressure
• Negative Sentiment: Apple’s strategy to introduce $599 devices and absorb higher memory costs can pressure gross margins; supply‑chain cost inflation (suppliers warn on rising energy and chip costs) raises the risk that margin compression persists before volume/share benefits materialize. Apple Launces a Price War Its Rivals Can’t Afford to Fight
• Negative Sentiment: Supplier warnings about higher energy and chip costs (Samsung Display CEO) add to the margin-risk narrative for consumer electronics broadly, which may keep near-term investor focus on profit resilience. Samsung Display CEO warns of cost pressure due to oil shock from Iran war

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. First National Bank of Hutchinson lifted its position in shares of Apple by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,845,000 after purchasing an additional 6,982 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,544,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Apple by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $134,554,000 after buying an additional 69,207 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,742,000 after buying an additional 2,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE lifted its holdings in Apple by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 50,264 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,587,000 after buying an additional 1,155 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company Profile

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.