Equities Analysts Issue Forecasts for Apple FY2026 Earnings

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

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on AAPL. Argus upgraded Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL traded up $4.94 on Monday, hitting $200.21. The stock had a trading volume of 55,838,867 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,255,357. The company has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $204.64 and a 200-day moving average of $225.71. Apple has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.53 EPS.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Jacobi Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 100,859 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $22,404,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292 shares in the last quarter. SWS Partners boosted its position in shares of Apple by 2.4% during the first quarter. SWS Partners now owns 6,165 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,369,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Triune Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 98.8% during the 1st quarter. Triune Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,950 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 969 shares in the last quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 37,155 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $8,253,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Finally, WBI Investments LLC raised its position in Apple by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. WBI Investments LLC now owns 14,017 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,114,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

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.