Street Calls of the Week: Apple gut punched

investing.com:

Here is your Pro Recap of the top takeaways from Wall Street analysts for the past week: upgrades for Verizon and GM; downgrades for Apple and PayPal.

InvestingPro subscribers always get first dibs on market-moving rating changes.

What happened? On Tuesday, Barclays downgraded Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) to Underweight with a price target of $160.

What’s the full story? Apple’s ecosystem is noted for its stickiness, with a growing business in services and wearables, and a substantial capital return program according to Barclays.

The bank sees a pressured outlook for Apple due to perceived risks to both services and traditional hardware. The analysts have rated Apple as Underweight, noting concerns linger regarding the decline in iPhone upgrade demand amidst increasing competition in the premium smartphone segment.

The performance of IP15 has been lackluster, and Barclays believes IP16 will follow suit. The analysts predict that other hardware categories will continue to be weak, and they do not foresee Services growing more than 10%.

After a year in which most quarters missed targets and the stock outperformed, Barclays expects a reversion.

Underweight at Barclays means “The stock is expected to underperform the unweighted expected total return of the industry coverage universe over a 12-month investment horizon. “

How did the stock react? Apple shares slid from $192 to $190 (a decline of about 1.2%) as soon as the premarket session opened at 4am in New York. Apple opened the regular session at $187.38 and closed at $185.60, a loss of 3.60% since Friday’s close.

What happened? On Wednesday, Keybanc upgraded Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) to Overweight with a $45 price target.

What’s the full story? Keybanc has upgraded