Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at China Renaissance

Equities research analysts at China Renaissance started coverage on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock. China Renaissance’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 24.77% from the company’s previous close.

AAPL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Argus upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.00.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $193.16 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple has a twelve month low of $164.77 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $218.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $229.90.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after acquiring an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,999,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,307,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.