The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $280.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price objective decreased by The Goldman Sachs Group from $286.00 to $280.00 in a report published on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

AAPL has been the subject of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.05.

Apple Stock Down 0.4 %

AAPL opened at $222.78 on Thursday. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company’s 50-day moving average is $240.93 and its 200 day moving average is $230.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 3.2% in the second quarter. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. now owns 6,292 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,325,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. SOL Capital Management CO increased its stake in shares of Apple by 2.1% in the second quarter. SOL Capital Management CO now owns 102,096 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $21,503,000 after acquiring an additional 2,078 shares during the period. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 18,449 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,886,000 after buying an additional 3,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobsen Capital Management raised its position in Apple by 5.3% during the second quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management now owns 30,715 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,469,000 after acquiring an additional 1,542 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% 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.