Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Upgraded to Outperform by Sanford C. Bernstein

Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has $195.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on AAPL. Maxim Group assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. They issued a hold rating and a $178.00 target price on the stock. Redburn Partners lowered shares of Apple to a neutral rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Citigroup reiterated a buy rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Apple from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their price objective for the company from $208.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $202.62.

Apple Stock Down 0.6 %

AAPL opened at $169.30 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The company has a market cap of $2.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.27. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $199.62. The company has a 50 day moving average of $172.38 and a 200 day moving average of $181.63.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The company had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.88 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,802 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,877,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Flagstone Financial Management lifted its stake in Apple by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,173,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,638,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Kraft Davis & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Kraft Davis & Associates LLC now owns 6,716 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,155,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Planning Corporation raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% 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.