Bank of America Raises Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $270.00

Key Points

• Bank of America has raised Apple’s price target from $260.00 to $270.00, reflecting a potential upside of 18.36% from its current trading price, while maintaining a "buy" rating on the stock.
• During mid-day trading, Apple shares fell by 2.7%, reaching $228.12, with a trading volume of 16.4 million shares compared to its average of 56.5 million.
• Recent earnings reports show Apple exceeded analysts' expectations by posting $1.57 earnings per share and $94.04 billion in revenue for the last quarter, indicating a 9.6% year-over-year increase.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) had its target price increased by stock analysts at Bank of America from $260.00 to $270.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the iPhone maker's stock. Bank of America's target price would suggest a potential upside of 18.36% from the company's current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $190.67 to $205.82 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, HSBC set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $242.16.

Apple Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of AAPL traded down $6.23 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $228.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 16,437,673 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,510,934. Apple has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company's 50-day moving average is $220.46 and its 200-day moving average is $212.50. 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 capitalization of $3.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.58, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.11.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,415,932,804 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $290,506,933,000 after purchasing an additional 15,141,995 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $123,358,461,000 after purchasing an additional 5,224,229 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the second 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 period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% in the second 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 period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple during the second quarter worth about $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.

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