Bank of America Has Lowered Expectations for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price cut by research analysts at Bank of America from $265.00 to $250.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the iPhone maker’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 11.66% from the stock’s current price.

AAPL has been the topic of several other research reports. Raymond James lifted their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Maxim Group raised their price target on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Moffett Nathanson reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $245.26.

Apple Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $223.89 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $230.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $233.36. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.08 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Drystone LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.