Apple's (AAPL) "Neutral" Rating Reiterated at DA Davidson

Key Points

• DA Davidson downgrades Apple from a "buy" to a "neutral" rating, setting a price target of $250, which indicates a potential upside of 10.23% from its current price.
• Recent earnings results show that Apple reported $1.57 EPS, outperforming estimates, while revenue reached $94.04 billion, a growth of 9.6% year-over-year.
• Apple's current market capitalization is $3.37 trillion, with a consensus analyst rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $240.80.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "neutral" rating reissued by research analysts at DA Davidson in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $250.00 price target on the iPhone maker's stock. DA Davidson's target price would indicate a potential upside of 9.17% from the company's previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price objective on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Melius Research set a $290.00 price objective on Apple and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $240.80.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock traded up $2.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $229.01. 9,947,980 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,630,730. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $220.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $212.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.11. Apple has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Ryan Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC grew its stake in Apple by 1,800.0% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC grew its stake in Apple by 333.3% in the second quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Apple in the first quarter valued at about $58,000. 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.