Bank of America Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price hoisted by equities research analysts at Bank of America from $253.00 to $265.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 11.52% from the stock’s current price.

AAPL has been the subject of a number of other reports. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $184.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Apple from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.88.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $237.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. Apple has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $241.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.81.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $71,000. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake in Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. 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.