Needham Holds Apple Stock Price as Analysts Keep Targets Higher
Needham kept its Hold on apple stock price Friday as Apple traded at $271.35, leaving the shares in the middle of a busy analyst range. For holders, that means the latest call does not add a fresh buy signal even after several higher price targets and a consensus target of $303.20.
Apple at $271.35 Friday
$271.35 was Apple’s opening price Friday, with the stock carrying a $3.98 trillion market capitalization and a 34.30 price-to-earnings ratio. That combination shows how much investors are paying for each dollar of earnings while the market keeps pricing in continued growth.
1 Strong Buy rating, 22 Buy ratings, 12 Hold ratings, and 1 Sell rating sat behind Apple’s average rating of Moderate Buy. The spread leaves Apple with more supporters than skeptics, but not enough conviction to push the Street into a unanimous bullish call.
Targets From $300 to $330
$330.00 was Jefferies Financial Group’s target on Wednesday, March 4th, while Maxim Group set $300.00 after upgrading Apple from Hold to Buy on Friday, January 30th. Bank of America raised its target from $320.00 to $325.00 and kept a Buy rating on Tuesday, April 14th, extending the run of higher expectations.
$270.00 was Moffett Nathanson’s target after it lifted the figure from $241.00 on Wednesday, February 25th and paired it with a Neutral rating. Evercore also reissued an outperform rating on Monday, March 2nd, keeping Apple near the top of the analyst stack even as Needham stopped short of joining the more bullish camp.
Apple Earnings and Insider Sales
$2.01 per share was Apple’s quarterly profit on Thursday, April 30th, beating the $1.92 estimate by $0.09 while revenue reached $111.18 billion against $109.46 billion expected. Revenue rose 16.6% from the same quarter a year earlier, and the company reported return on equity of 159.94% and net margin of 27.04%.
64,949 shares were sold by Chief Executive Officer Timothy D. Cook on Thursday, April 2nd at an average price of $254.23, a $16,511,984.27 transaction under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh later sold 1,534 shares on Thursday, April 23rd at $275.00, leaving his direct stake at 13,366 shares valued at $3,675,650.
$303.20 is the consensus target price now sitting above Apple’s $271.35 opening price, giving the stock room to move if the stronger earnings run carries into the next analyst round. For now, Needham’s Hold says the most recent call is to wait for the numbers to keep catching up with the valuation.
