Barclays Has Lowered Expectations for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price dropped by equities research analysts at Barclays from $184.00 to $183.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “underweight” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 17.80% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Raymond James raised their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research note on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.99.

Apple Stock Down 3.2 %

AAPL opened at $222.64 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $241.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $230.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.62, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew 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 during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in shares of Apple by 88.9% in 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 last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in Apple during the third quarter valued at $77,000. 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.