Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Earns “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $225.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price indicates a potential upside of 11.31% from the company’s previous close.

AAPL has been the subject of several other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer cut shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $263.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.85.

Apple Stock Down 0.2 %

Apple stock opened at $202.14 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $221.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.08 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Net Worth Advisory Group raised its position in shares of Apple by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group now owns 12,317 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,736,000 after acquiring an additional 723 shares in the last quarter. apricus wealth LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. apricus wealth LLC now owns 15,392 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,419,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Tran Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 4.9% in the first quarter. Tran Capital Management L.P. now owns 9,270 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,059,000 after buying an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. Define Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 278.3% in the first quarter. Define Financial LLC now owns 3,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $755,000 after buying an additional 2,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 16.5% during the first quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 339,344 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $75,379,000 after acquiring an additional 48,058 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.