Apple’s (AAPL) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Evercore ISI

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by Evercore ISI in a report released on Thursday, Stock Target Advisor reports. They presently have a $250.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 12.84% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on AAPL. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. DZ Bank reissued a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.71.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock traded up $1.28 on Thursday, reaching $221.55. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 37,369,801 shares, compared to its average volume of 87,244,072. Apple has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $221.55. The company has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $195.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Apple will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 192,355 shares of company stock valued at $34,771,329 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,394,751,000 after buying an additional 2,018,010 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 14,395.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Apple by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,677,190,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,360 shares during the period. 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.