Evercore ISI Increases Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $250.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) had its price target increased by Evercore ISI to $250.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Stock Target Advisor reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the iPhone maker's stock. Evercore ISI's target price suggests a potential upside of 24.61% from the company's previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on AAPL. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.02.

Apple Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $200.63 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $201.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $224.35. Apple has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. Apple's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 17,759 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,945,000 after buying an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 11.8% in the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 349,317 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $77,594,000 after acquiring an additional 36,974 shares in the last quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 2.5% during the first quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 5,678 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,261,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Plum Street Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Plum Street Advisors LLC now owns 7,889 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,752,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of Apple by 31.6% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,926,440 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $421,237,000 after buying an additional 462,469 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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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