Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Down 1.9% Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell 1.9% during trading on Tuesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $360.00 to $355.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Apple traded as low as $325.33 and last traded at $331.90. 61,120,763 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 26% from the average session volume of 48,389,336 shares. The stock had previously closed at $338.32.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $350.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $340.00 price objective (up from $296.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. CICC Research raised their price objective on Apple from $310.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 27th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $343.28.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO John Ternus sold 25,412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.94, for a total transaction of $8,460,671.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 59,567 shares in the company, valued at $19,832,236.98. The trade was a 29.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.05, for a total transaction of $480,309.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 17,539 shares in the company, valued at $6,051,831.95. The trade was a 7.35% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 289,252 shares of company stock valued at $96,301,063 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple reported fiscal Q4 revenue of $114.5 billion and EPS of $2.10, beating estimates. iPhone revenue rose 17.5% to $57.6 billion, while Mac sales and Services also contributed to a record quarter. The company forecasts holiday-quarter revenue growth of 7%–10%. Apple Q4 earnings beat estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts remain constructive after the results: Bank of America reiterated a Buy rating, citing resilient iPhone demand and longer-term growth potential. Bank of America’s view on Apple
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst views and price targets were mixed: JPMorgan trimmed its target to $355 but maintained an Overweight rating, while other firms raised targets or remained cautious. JPMorgan price-target update
• Negative Sentiment: The key concern is Apple’s forecast for a 45%–46% gross margin in the December quarter, below the September quarter’s level. Management cited “unprecedented” memory-price increases and costs tied to Siri AI, raising questions about how much profit Apple can retain even with strong sales. Apple faces memory-cost pressure
• Negative Sentiment: Apple’s component inventory and supplier commitments have grown as it secures parts amid the memory crunch, increasing concern about cash tied up in supply and continued cost exposure. Services growth is also expected to slow, while China sales fell short of expectations. Apple’s inventory and memory costs
• Negative Sentiment: Apple’s annual filing also identified AI agents behaving unpredictably as a potential business risk, adding to investor questions about whether its AI strategy can protect its ecosystem over time. Apple’s AI-agent risk disclosure

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in Apple by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 630,662,494 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $182,897,769,000 after purchasing an additional 28,321,085 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new position in Apple during the second quarter worth $65,950,297,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Apple during the second quarter worth $36,986,090,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at $30,443,242,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 23.2% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 73,082,616 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $18,547,637,000 after buying an additional 13,780,080 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.06, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $333.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $296.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.11. Apple had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 135.46%. The company had revenue of $114.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.85 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 12th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Apple’s payout ratio is 12.39%.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and digital services. Its best-known products include the iPhone smartphone, Mac personal computers, iPad tablets, Apple Watch, AirPods and other accessories. The company also develops operating systems and applications that support its hardware ecosystem.

Apple’s services business includes the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Arcade, iCloud, Apple Pay and other subscription, payment and digital-content offerings.