TLDR
- AAPL stock hit an all-time high of $311.82, with the company’s market cap sitting at $4.54 trillion and closing in on $5 trillion.
- Bank of America raised its price target to $380, projecting a $5.5 trillion market cap within 12 months.
- AAPL is up 22% since April 1 as investors bet on AI announcements at the June Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
- Apple reported quarterly EPS of $2.01, beating estimates by $0.06, on revenue of $111.18 billion ā up 16.6% year-over-year.
- Wall Street consensus sits at Moderate Buy with an average price target of $318.75.
Apple (AAPL) stock hit a record high of $311.82 on May 26, pushing the company’s market cap to $4.54 trillion ā within striking distance of the $5 trillion mark. If reached, Apple would become only the second U.S. company to hit that milestone, following Nvidia.
The stock has climbed 22% since April 1, as investors have piled back into the AI trade ahead of Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Wall Street is watching closely.
Expectations for WWDC are high. Analysts want to see a redesigned, AI-powered Siri alongside new AI features baked into the iPhone. If Apple delivers, most analysts believe the stock has room to run further.
Bank of America lifted its price target to $380 ā about 20% above current levels ā and kept its Buy rating. The bank sees Apple as well-positioned to capitalize on what it calls the emerging “agentic AI” smartphone market. It also projected Apple’s market cap could reach $5.5 trillion within 12 months.
Tigress Financial went even further, reiterating a Strong Buy with a $375 price target, up from $305.
Earnings Beat Backs Up the Bull Case
Apple’s most recent quarterly results gave investors something to work with. The company posted EPS of $2.01, clearing the $1.95 consensus estimate by $0.06. Revenue came in at $111.18 billion, above the $109.46 billion analysts expected, and up 16.6% from the same quarter a year ago.
Return on equity was a standout 146.69%, and net margin held at 27.15%. Analysts now forecast full-year EPS of $8.74.
Apple also raised its quarterly dividend from $0.26 to $0.27, paid out on May 14.
On the institutional side, Pictet Asset Management increased its Apple position by 0.9% in Q4, bringing its holding to roughly 8.8 million shares valued at $2.4 billion. Several other funds including First National Bank of Hutchinson and Brighton Jones also added to positions. Roughly 67.73% of AAPL is held by institutions.
A Few Clouds on the Horizon
Not everything is pointing up. Insider selling has picked up, with Apple execs offloading nearly 97,759 shares worth around $25 million in the last quarter. SVP Deirdre O’Brien sold around 30,000 shares in April at $255.35, while CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares at $275.
iPhone 17e sales in Japan have reportedly slowed compared to its predecessor, raising some questions about demand in that market. Apple and Google are also pushing back against a proposed Canadian law that would expand police data access, though analysts don’t see that as an immediate earnings risk.
The stock has a 52-week low of $195.07, and currently trades above both its 50-day moving average of $271.87 and its 200-day of $269.16.
Among 29 analysts covering the stock, 18 rate it a Buy, 10 a Hold, and one a Sell.
The average price target of $318.75 implies modest upside of about 6% from current levels ā though outlier targets from BofA and Tigress suggest some on Wall Street think the AI story is still just getting started.
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