Zacks Research Has Negative Outlook of Apple FY2026 Earnings

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) - Zacks Research cut their FY2026 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Apple in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, May 22nd. Zacks Research analyst A. Ganguly now forecasts that the iPhone maker will post earnings of $7.58 per share for the year, down from their previous estimate of $7.85. The consensus estimate for Apple's current full-year earnings is $7.28 per share.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer lowered Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. DA Davidson upped their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and set a $170.62 target price (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Apple Trading Down 0.2%

AAPL traded down $0.47 during trading on Monday, hitting $199.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 51,367,725 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,221,859. Apple has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month 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. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $203.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $225.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.74, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC now owns 20,320 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,735,000 after acquiring an additional 776 shares in the last quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors now owns 237,376 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $55,309,000 after buying an additional 1,308 shares in the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 66,396 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $15,470,000 after buying an additional 6,071 shares in the last quarter. RiverPark Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. RiverPark Advisors LLC now owns 31,685 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $7,383,000 after buying an additional 2,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 3,723,104 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $876,483,000 after buying an additional 103,856 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm'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 approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan 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 plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.