Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Buy Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $260.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 13.94% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on AAPL. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $247.61 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Cfra lifted their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target (up from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.17.

Apple Stock Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $228.20 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.49, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.23. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $222.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $199.99.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc acquired a new position in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. grew its holdings in Apple by 657.1% in the 4th quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $85,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% 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.