Jefferies Financial Group Issues Positive Forecast for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group has increased Apple's price target from $190.67 to $205.82, maintaining a "hold" rating, indicating a potential downside of 14.13% from the previous close.
• Analysts maintain a mixed outlook on Apple, with two ratings being "Strong Buy," fifteen as "Buy," and a consensus average target price of $238.99.
• Apple reported better-than-expected earnings for the last quarter, with revenue of $94.04 billion and an EPS of $1.57, exceeding the consensus estimates.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by Jefferies Financial Group from $190.67 to $205.82 in a report released on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a hold rating on the iPhone maker's stock.

AAPL has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore ISI restated an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays increased their price target on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Moffett Nathanson upgraded Apple from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $242.16.

Apple Trading Down 3.2%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded down $7.56 during trading on Monday, reaching $226.79. The company had a trading volume of 83,292,828 shares, compared to its average volume of 44,631,136. The company's fifty day moving average price is $220.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $212.50. Apple has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.28, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during 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 was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were 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. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 573,627.2% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $39,065,374,000 after buying an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $38,942,255,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 1st quarter worth $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $133,425,490,000 after acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PKS Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 98,917.0% in the second quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC now owns 57,956,620 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $12,106,000 after purchasing an additional 57,898,088 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Company Profile

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.