Jefferies Financial Group Reaffirms Underperform Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a "hold" rating to "underperform" with a price target of $205.16, indicating a potential downside of 20.21% from its previous close.
• Despite the downgrade, several other analysts maintain a "Moderate Buy" rating for Apple, with an average target price of $247.49.
• Apple's stock is currently trading at $257.13, below its 1-year high of $260.10 and above its 1-year low of $169.21.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "underperform" rating reaffirmed by Jefferies Financial Group in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $205.16 price objective on the iPhone maker's stock, down from their previous price objective of $205.82. Jefferies Financial Group's price objective would suggest a potential downside of 20.21% from the company's previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley set a $298.00 target price on Apple and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Moffett Nathanson raised Apple from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $247.49.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $257.13 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.02, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.09. Apple has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $232.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $214.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business's revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. Analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 1.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,415,932,804 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $290,506,933,000 after purchasing an additional 15,141,995 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Apple by 0.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $123,358,461,000 after buying an additional 5,224,229 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 1.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $72,506,336,000 after buying an additional 4,942,638 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 573,627.2% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after buying an additional 205,656,808 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $38,942,255,000. 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.