Apple Approaching Consensus Price Target

oldpigwang

Seeking Alpha
March 14, 2012  
The consensus price target for Apple (AAPL) based on all of the analysts that cover the stock currently stands at $605. With its share price trading north of $590 today, Apple is quickly approaching its price target.

Below is a chart showing the consensus price target for Apple along with its actual share price going back to 2005. As shown, the huge spike in the stock so far this year has pushed the price very close to its current price target.

Below is a chart showing the percentage spread between Apple's share price and its consensus price target. At the moment, the spread stands at just 3.44%. This is much lower than the average spread of 24.7% that has been seen since 2005.

Whenever the spread has gotten close (or below in one case) to zero, it has typically been an inflection point, and the spread begins to widen out again. This means that the stock either dips at a faster rate than analysts can lower their price targets, or that analysts begin to up their price targets because their prior targets are being reached. In the case of Apple, the latter has mostly been the case in recent years. Are we about to see a bunch of Apple price target increases in the coming weeks?

NYQ

Sorry, del..

Diffusion