Equities research analysts at Thomson Reuters/Verus had downgraded Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock price to 'hold' from a 'buy' rating on Feb 18, as reported by Analysts Ratings Network (ARN).

Analysts at Bank of America on the other hand lifted their price target on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares from $575.00 to $590.00 on Friday. They gave a 'neutral' rating on Apple stock.

Analysts at Needham & Company lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $595.00 to $590.00 on Monday. They gave a 'buy' rating on Apple stock.

Zacks had maintained its 'neutral' rating on Apple on Wednesday putting a price target of $534.00 on Apple stock.

There were three equities research analysts which gave Apple a 'sell' rating, ten rated the stock on 'hold', twenty-nine rated 'buy' and one had given a 'strong buy' rating. Overall, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had a consensus rating of 'buy' and a price target of $597.88.

On Tuesday, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) opened at $543.99 with a 52-week low of $385.10 and a 52-week high of $575.14. The stock has a 50-day moving of $534.7 and a 200-day moving average of $516.1, as reported by ARN.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) real time quotes as published by NASDAQ OMX as of Feb 18 is at $545.40, up by 0.25 per cent; previous close at $543.99; today's high at 551.19, today's low at $543.5; 52 weeks high at $575.1358, weeks low at $385. 10.

Important note:

As of January 31, a large growth in short interest totaling to 16,538,870 shares, a growth of 8.6% from the January 15th total of 15,231,209 shares was seen on Apple shares. On an average daily trading volume of 18,191,886 shares, Apple's short-interest ratio at present is 0.9 days. The 1.9 per cent of Apple shares is presently short sold.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has always surpassed analysts' predictions as what had been observed with its latest quarterly earnings announced in Jan 27: $14.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the analysts' consensus estimate of $14.05 by $0.45.

Apple had also reported earnings of $57.59 billion as compared to analysts' consensus prediction of $57.46 billion.