Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price objective increased by analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from $132.00 to $170.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, The Fly reports. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price target suggests a potential downside of 1.27% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on AAPL. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 29th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $191.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird restated a “buy” rating and set a $169.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, October 29th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Apple from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $164.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.24.

AAPL stock opened at $172.19 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. Apple has a 52 week low of $116.21 and a 52 week high of $182.94. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $166.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 27th. The iPhone maker reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24. Apple had a net margin of 25.88% and a return on equity of 144.13%. The company had revenue of $83.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.94 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Apple will post 5.82 EPS for the current year.

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 165,829 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.62, for a total value of $24,645,505.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 18,247 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.35, for a total value of $2,670,448.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 218,081 shares of company stock worth $32,383,704 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Amundi bought a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,528,240,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,264,936,543 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $173,245,709,000 after purchasing an additional 25,553,808 shares during the period. Liberty Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 13,998.4% in the 2nd quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC now owns 25,320,849 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $184,697,000 after purchasing an additional 25,141,248 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 97.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 36,546,345 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,239,285,000 after purchasing an additional 18,074,896 shares during the period. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 515.0% in the 2nd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 15,285,356 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,093,483,000 after purchasing an additional 12,799,829 shares during the period. 56.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Apple

Apple, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and other variety of related services. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, Greater China, Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific. The Americas segment includes North and South America.

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