Apple's (AAPL) Buy Rating Reiterated at Bank of America

Key Points

• Bank of America has **reiterated a "buy" rating** for Apple (AAPL), maintaining a **price objective of $250**, indicating a potential upside of 9.40% from the current price.
• Apple's recent quarterly earnings report showed **earnings per share of $1.57**, exceeding analysts' expectations, along with revenue of **$94.04 billion**, a 9.6% increase year-over-year.
• The company has authorized a **$100 billion share buyback program**, signaling confidence from the board that Apple's stock is undervalued.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by investment analysts at Bank of America in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $250.00 price objective on the iPhone maker's stock. Bank of America's price objective indicates a potential upside of 9.40% from the company's current price.

AAPL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI restated an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report 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 report on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group upped their target price on Apple from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $237.98.

Apple Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded up $0.7540 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $228.5140. The stock had a trading volume of 15,539,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 57,142,895. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market cap of $3.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.16. The business's fifty day moving average price is $212.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $212.82. Apple has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10.

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

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ryan Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 333.3% in the second quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the first quarter worth $58,000. 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.

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