Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Upgraded to "Hold" at Jefferies Financial Group

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $167.88 target price on the iPhone maker's stock, down from their prior target price of $202.33. Jefferies Financial Group's price objective indicates a potential downside of 15.28% from the stock's current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Loop Capital cut Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $263.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $240.26.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $7.73 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $198.15. 87,256,357 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,952,380. Apple has a one year low of $164.08 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $222.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $231.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Amara Financial LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at about $288,000. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in Apple by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $16,269,000 after buying an additional 2,565 shares during the period. Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its holdings in Apple by 12.8% in the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $59,122,000 after acquiring an additional 28,799 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in Apple by 4.2% in the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 96,589 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $22,505,000 after acquiring an additional 3,935 shares during the period. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.5% during the third quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 276,791 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $64,492,000 after acquiring an additional 6,711 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.