Technology

Apple Takes Surprise Analyst Downgrade From Deutsche Bank

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) may have seen its shares recover handily from the lows of the trading day and may have closed up on the trading session, but the after-hours trading has seen a dip in the stock. The culprit is an analyst downgrade — Deutsche Bank downgraded Apple’s stock to Hold from Buy.

When investors hear the word “analyst downgrade” pertaining to Apple they sometimes get a bit panicked or defensive. After all, Apple is the largest company with a market cap of almost $600 billion. Before panicking, the price target only was lowered to $102 from $105 in the call.

The change here is small enough that this is hardly anything that should cause a serious scare for the true Apple bulls and fan boys.

Deutsche Bank’s view is that Apple likely has few surprises left. The real opinion is not one of panic but one that the stock is likely to remain range bound after being up 25% so far this year.

One spot that might be of concern is high expectations for the iPhone 6. The firm simply thinks the positive catalysts are priced into the stock.

Apple shares closed up 0.7% at $99.90 on the day, and the trading range on Thursday was $98.04 to $103.74. Apple’s 52-week trading range is $68.33 to $103.74. Apple shares were down 0.75% at $99.16 in the after-hours trading session at 4:45 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday. That takes it right back around the $99.18 closing price from Wednesday.

Stay tuned to this stock story for Friday. This particular analyst call itself is not big, not unless it leads other analysts into downgrading Apple as well. We will have to see if there is any psychological damage after Friday morning’s unemployment report.

ALSO READ: 8 Stocks Analysts Predict Will Double

As a reminder, this $102 price target versus the $105 previous target from Deutsche Bank compares to a consensus price target north of $111. Apple’s highest analyst price target is represented as being up at $139 in the Thomson Reuters universe.

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