Raymond James Cuts Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $230.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) had its price objective dropped by research analysts at Raymond James from $250.00 to $230.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "outperform" rating on the iPhone maker's stock. Raymond James' target price would suggest a potential upside of 8.90% from the stock's current price.

AAPL has been the subject of a number of other reports. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Loop Capital lowered Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $233.74.

Apple Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $211.21 on Wednesday. Apple has a 12 month low of $169.11 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The business's 50-day moving average price is $214.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $229.06.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. On average, analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 23,555.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,272,653,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.