Apple's (AAPL) Hold Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold" rating reissued by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports.

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Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on AAPL. DA Davidson raised their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. UBS Group restated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.11.

View Our Latest Analysis on Apple

Apple Stock Performance

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Apple stock opened at $213.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $204.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $214.96. Apple has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider owned 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 1st quarter valued at about $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 25,934.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 during the period. 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.

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