Citigroup Raises Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $185.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price raised by investment analysts at Citigroup to $185.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Stock Target Advisor reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Citigroup’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 19.43% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on AAPL. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $247.61 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Maxim Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $203.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.27.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $6.24 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $229.62. 25,358,053 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 59,748,332. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.95. Apple has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.49. The company has a market cap of $3.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $226.46 and a 200 day moving average of $209.33.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.26 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 20,372.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter worth $3,026,492,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 23,076.4% in the first quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,584,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,200,345 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in Apple by 14,145.8% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Apple by 158.3% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,977,582,000 after purchasing an additional 7,067,379 shares in 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.