Apple’s (AAPL) “Hold” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Apple from $330.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $312.68.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $301.54 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $4.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.46, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $282.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $271.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Apple has a 12 month low of $195.07 and a 12 month high of $317.40.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The firm had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total transaction of $369,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,226,770. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $421,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,675,650. This represents a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $387,749,545,000 after acquiring an additional 26,856,752 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Apple by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 604,056,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $164,218,801,000 after acquiring an additional 6,555,392 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 358,032,517 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $97,031,587,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866,103 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Apple by 0.6% in the 4th 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 purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $52,266,468,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple unveiled a major Siri AI overhaul, plus broader Apple Intelligence upgrades across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, and Vision Pro, which could deepen ecosystem engagement and support future monetization. WWDC26: Apple unveils next generation of Apple Intelligence, Siri AI, powerful parental controls, and an expansive set of software improvements
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley reiterated a Buy rating and raised its price target to $360, citing improving AI monetization prospects. Erik Woodring Reiterates Buy on Apple, Lifts Price Target to $360 on Strengthening AI Monetization Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush also stayed bullish after WWDC, saying Apple’s AI strategy could unlock meaningful upside and reiterating an Outperform view with a $400 target. AI Could Add $75-$100 to Apple Stock (AAPL), Says Top Wedbush Analyst after WWDC Event
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple said its most advanced Siri AI features will rely on Google’s Gemini models and NVIDIA infrastructure, reinforcing that Apple is outsourcing key AI compute while it develops its own stack. Apple’s Biggest AI Bet Yet Runs On NVIDIA, Not Its Own Chips
• Negative Sentiment: Investors were disappointed that Siri AI does not have a firm rollout timeline and is delayed in key regions such as the EU, with regulators and interoperability issues clouding the launch. Apple failed to make its AI tool to comply to EU regulations, EU Commission says
• Negative Sentiment: The stock also fell because the market viewed WWDC as proof Apple is still catching up in AI rather than delivering a decisive leap ahead of rivals. Saving Siri: After two years of stumbles, is Apple’s AI moment here?

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.