JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $265.00 to $260.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning,BayStreet.CA reports.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on AAPL. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $184.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $253.00 price target (down from $256.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price objective (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $211.84 to $200.75 in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.88.

Apple Price Performance

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

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Drystone LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.