Apple shares fall for a second straight session on Wednesday, tech giant begins construction of new campus in Austin, Texas

Apple Inc (AAPL) said on Wednesday that it had begun constructing its new campus in Austin, Texas, an area where it at present has nearly 7 000 employees.

The new $1 billion campus, which is expected to open in 2022, will be situated at a short distance from Apple’s existing facility, where the new MacBook Pro laptops are manufactured.

Apple shares closed lower for a second consecutive trading session on NASDAQ on Wednesday. It has also been the steepest daily loss since October 29th. The stock went down 1.16% ($3.10) to $263.19, after touching an intraday low at $260.41, or a price level not seen since November 11th ($258.28).

Shares of Apple Inc have added 66.85% to their value so far in 2019 compared with a 24.00% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2018, Apple’s stock went down 6.79%, thus, it underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 6.24% loss.

Apple said that it would initially base 5 000 employees at the new 3-million-square-foot campus, with the capacity to grow to 15 000.

The tech giant also said that it continued to expand in areas such as Boulder, Culver City, New York, Pittsburgh, San Diego and Seattle.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to CNN Money, the 40 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Apple Inc’s stock price, have a median target of $272.50, with a high estimate of $325.00 and a low estimate of $150.00. The median estimate represents a 3.54% upside compared to the closing price of $263.19 on November 20th.

The same media also reported that at least 21 out of 43 surveyed investment analysts had rated Apple Inc’s stock as “Buy”, while 13 – as “Hold”. On the other hand, 6 analysts had recommended selling the stock.