Zacks Research Brokers Boost Earnings Estimates for Apple

Key Points

• Analysts at Zacks Research have increased their Q1 2027 earnings per share (EPS) estimate for Apple to $2.25, up from $2.24, with a full-year consensus EPS estimate of $7.28.
• Apple's latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, reporting $1.57 EPS and $94.04 billion in revenue, representing a 9.6% increase year-over-year.
• Recent changes in analyst ratings include Barclays raising Apple’s price target to $180 while Monness Crespi & Hardt raised it to $270, indicating mixed opinions among analysts.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) - Equities research analysts at Zacks Research increased their Q1 2027 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Apple in a research report issued on Tuesday, October 21st. Zacks Research analyst Team now forecasts that the iPhone maker will post earnings of $2.25 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $2.24. The consensus estimate for Apple's current full-year earnings is $7.28 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Apple's FY2027 earnings at $8.03 EPS.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.Apple's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on AAPL. Barclays upped their price target on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Phillip Securities cut Apple from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Moffett Nathanson raised Apple from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $252.47.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $258.45 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.22, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.09. Apple has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $265.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $242.99 and a 200 day moving average of $218.02.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $46,005,982.82. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 43,013 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This represents a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 573,627.2% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at $38,942,255,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the first quarter valued at $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Apple by 25,934.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PKS Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Apple by 98,917.0% in the second quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC now owns 57,956,620 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $12,106,000 after buying an additional 57,898,088 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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