Moffett Nathanson Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target trimmed by Moffett Nathanson from $211.00 to $202.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Maxim Group increased their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.25.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $228.44 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $227.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $217.47. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.49. The firm has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.57, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 127.4% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,943,000 after purchasing an additional 42,282 shares in the last quarter. Fountainhead AM LLC grew its position in Apple by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Fountainhead AM LLC now owns 51,041 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,753,000 after purchasing an additional 2,829 shares during the period. SWP Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. SWP Financial LLC now owns 42,691 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,321,000 after acquiring an additional 8,158 shares during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 16.7% during the 1st quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 71,927 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,334,000 after acquiring an additional 10,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC now owns 34,856 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,977,000 after acquiring an additional 2,867 shares during the last quarter. 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.