Apple Shares Top $300 for First Time

Apple (AAPL) shares, which have been surging to new levels almost daily, crossed the $300 mark Wednesday for the first time ever. And MarketWatch reports that most Wall Street analysts covering the company expect the stock to move even higher.

The iPhone maker's shares rose above $299 on Tuesday, and closed at an all-time high of $298.54, up $3.18, or 1.08%. Year to date, the stock has surged nearly 42%, and over the past 12 months it rallied about 56%. It is expected to continue to push ahead, Rex Crum reports, especially after it releases quarterly earnings next Monday.

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Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes raised his target price on Apple's stock to $385 a share from $340. He likes the FaceTime technology that allows video calls over WiFi networks, which Apple includes in the iPhone 4 and the newest model of the iPod touch. And he says his target might be conservative if the technology is added to iPads and Macs as well.

Meanwhile, Apple's iPhone 4 and iPad sales haven't been too shabby either: Apple sold at least 3 million iPhone 4s from the late June launch to early September, and almost 3.3 million iPads to date, MarketWatch reports.

Some analysts even see Apple reaching $400 and beyond, MarketWatch adds. And as Yair Reiner of Oppenheimer, who has a $345 price target on the stock, wrote last week, "Bottom line, as big as Apple is today, it seems destined to get much bigger."