Cowen revises AAPL price target to $133 after four-for-one split

Credit: Andrew O'Hara, AppleInsider

In a brief note to investors seen by AppleInsider, Cowen analyst Krish Sankar has updated the 12-month AAPL price target while maintaining Apple's outperform rating.

Sankar hasn't adjusted its investment thesis, still claiming that Services will continue to grow and that the upcoming "iPhone 12" update could spur a wide upgrade opportunity for Apple. Upcoming catalysts, the analyst says, could include a normalization of U.S. and China trade relations and the launch of 5G iPhones in 2020.

The Apple four-for-one stock split, which completed on Aug. 31, gave each Apple shareholder four times the number of shares, with each share worth a quarter of their previous value. Apple said that the split would make the stock "more accessible" to a wider range of investors.

Based on the split, Cowen has updated its model to reflect both the split pricing and the updated share count. The bank's 12-month price target is now set at $133. Its previous PT was $530, an industry-high at the time.

That's based on a 25x earnings multiple to Apple's core business, including iPhone and hardware, and a slightly lower 41x multiple on the recurring Services segment.

Shares of AAPL are trading at $131.79 on Tuesday morning, up 2.05% in intra-day trading.