Citigroup Issues Positive Forecast for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price

Key Points

• Citigroup raised Apple’s price target to $245.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.30% from the current price, while maintaining a "buy" rating on the stock.
• Apple's stock traded down 1.9% to $203.65 amid significant trading volume, currently having a market cap of $3.04 trillion.
• The company announced a $100 billion share buyback program, a move indicating that its board believes the stock is undervalued.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) had its price objective boosted by investment analysts at Citigroup from $240.00 to $245.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the iPhone maker's stock. Citigroup's target price would indicate a potential upside of 21.06% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on AAPL. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday. Scotiabank cut shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $217.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $237.25.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL traded down $5.19 on Friday, hitting $202.38. The stock had a trading volume of 97,423,066 shares, compared to its average volume of 44,912,472. Apple has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $205.37 and a 200-day moving average of $213.77.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 172.48%. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Burkett Financial Services LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Apple by 28.3% in the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $935,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares during the period. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,045,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3,368.2% during the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $113,062,000 after acquiring an additional 438,471 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.