Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) – Equities research analysts at Wedbush cut their Q2 2020 earnings per share estimates for shares of Apple in a research note issued on Tuesday, March 17th. Wedbush analyst D. Ives now forecasts that the iPhone maker will post earnings per share of $1.96 for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $2.86. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $335.00 target price on the stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Apple’s Q3 2020 earnings at $1.86 EPS, Q4 2020 earnings at $2.58 EPS, FY2020 earnings at $11.43 EPS and FY2021 earnings at $14.13 EPS.
Several other research firms have also issued reports on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 price target (down from $370.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays reduced their price target on Apple from $304.00 to $297.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Atlantic Securities lowered Apple from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $235.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, China Renaissance Securities assumed coverage on Apple in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $342.00 price target on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. The stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $309.34.
AAPL opened at $229.24 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $298.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $269.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.56. Apple has a 1 year low of $170.27 and a 1 year high of $327.85. The firm has a market cap of $1,003.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.11, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.30.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The iPhone maker reported $4.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.54 by $0.45. Apple had a return on equity of 60.19% and a net margin of 21.49%. The business had revenue of $91.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.41 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.18 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year.
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its stake in Apple by 2,180.0% during the fourth quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 114 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. CXI Advisors purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $68,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $117,000. Finally, Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $129,000. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.
In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 1,429 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.11, for a total value of $434,573.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,134,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately $345,077,266.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.05% of the company’s stock.
Apple Company Profile
Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets mobile communication and media devices, and personal computers. It also sells various related software, services, accessories, and third-party digital content and applications. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and Mac, a line of desktop and portable personal computers, as well as iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS operating systems.