Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Bank of America Analyst Says

Key Points

• Bank of America raised its price target for Apple to $260.00, reflecting a potential upside of 10.26% from its current price, while maintaining a "buy" rating.
• A number of brokerages, including Barclays and Raymond James, have also adjusted their price targets for Apple, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $237.73.
• Apple's recent earnings report showed a 9.6% year-over-year increase in revenue, reaching $94.04 billion, and an earnings per share of $1.57, surpassing expectations.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) had its price target increased by Bank of America from $250.00 to $260.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the iPhone maker's stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays upped their target price on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Loop Capital cut their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $239.05.

Apple Trading Down 0.0%

NASDAQ AAPL traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $239.69. 54,829,143 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 47,688,568. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $219.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $212.86. 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 has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.11.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 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. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 15,141,995 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $123,358,461,000 after buying an additional 5,224,229 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $72,506,336,000 after purchasing an additional 4,942,638 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% during the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $38,942,255,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.