Apple Breaks Above the $700 Mark!

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has traded above the $700 mark for the first time ever today. As of 10:45 a.m. EST the official intraday high is $701.44 and the prior 52-week range was listed as $354.24 to $699.80.

We saw last night that Apple was trading barely above the $700 handle after closing at $699.78, but Apple shares were lower in premarket trading this morning at a time when S&P futures were down 2 and NASDAQ futures were down about 3 points.

We would note that Apple did see Bank of America Merrill Lynch reiterate its Buy rating and lift an already bullish price target of $770 all the way up to $850 based upon strong selling and demand of the iPhone 5. The firm's call was in part due to a much more rapid deployment of the iPhone 5 out to many more countries and many more carriers than it has traditionally made in past iPhone launches. That 2 million orders in the first 24 hours on the Apple online store was noted as well.

We also saw that Sterne Agee's Shaw Wu lifted his price target to $840 from $820 this morning.

Consider this just a price update, or in news terms just as a public service announcement.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire Tagged: AAPL