Morgan Stanley Cuts Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $210.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $210.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

AAPL has been the topic of several other reports. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Oppenheimer reissued an outperform rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Redburn Partners lowered shares of Apple to a neutral rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Apple from $160.00 to $158.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $203.05.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $169.02 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $173.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $181.94. The stock has a market cap of $2.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.27. Apple has a 1 year low of $162.80 and a 1 year high of $199.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.88 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 14.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 14,395.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 23,076.4% in the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,584,512,000 after buying an additional 9,200,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 130.1% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,815,594,000 after buying an additional 5,331,439 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Company Profile

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.