Wedbush Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price objective lifted by research analysts at Wedbush from $300.00 to $325.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Wedbush’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 27.16% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on AAPL. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Moffett Nathanson reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.47.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $255.59 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 42.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $237.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $227.65. Apple has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,121,656,000 after acquiring an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% 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.