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

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target lowered by Barclays from $184.00 to $183.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wedbush boosted their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.05.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $222.78 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $240.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.72.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple 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 completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC increased its stake in Apple by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 35,937 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,999,000 after purchasing an additional 1,986 shares in the last quarter. Flavin Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,397,000. Calamos Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 611,528 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $153,139,000 after buying an additional 8,064 shares in the last quarter. Grunden Financial Advisory Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 34.2% during the 4th quarter. Grunden Financial Advisory Inc. now owns 4,322 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,082,000 after buying an additional 1,101 shares during the period. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 214.3% in the fourth quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 33,285 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,335,000 after acquiring an additional 22,695 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.