Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target Lowered to $220.00 at Morgan Stanley

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target decreased by Morgan Stanley from $252.00 to $220.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. KeyCorp cut their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $170.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Apple from $265.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wedbush cut their target price on Apple from $325.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.23.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $172.42 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $225.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $232.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.08 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth $63,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth $65,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Company Profile

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.