Rosenblatt Securities Reaffirms Neutral Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Key Points

• Rosenblatt Securities has reaffirmed a neutral rating for Apple, with a target price of $217.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1.38% from its current price.
• Apple's earnings report showed an EPS of $1.65, beating estimates and a revenue of $95.36 billion, reflecting a 5.1% year-over-year increase.
• The company has initiated a $100.00 billion share repurchase program, indicating that Apple’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "neutral" rating reiterated by investment analysts at Rosenblatt Securities in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $217.00 target price on the iPhone maker's stock. Rosenblatt Securities' target price would suggest a potential upside of 1.38% from the company's current price.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group restated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.94.

Apple Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $214.05 on Tuesday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $204.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $214.22. Apple has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market cap of $3.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.34, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Burkett Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Avid Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Apple by 28.3% during the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $935,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares during the period. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,337,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the period. TruWealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,045,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Finally, Allstate Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 3,368.2% in the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $113,062,000 after buying an additional 438,471 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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