Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-four analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, seventeen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $175.65.
Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, November 8th. UBS Group set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, December 1st. KeyCorp restated a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, November 8th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 20th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $160.00 to $154.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 7th.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 176,299 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.16, for a total transaction of $25,062,665.84. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,290 shares in the company, valued at $19,374,986.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 176,299 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.16, for a total transaction of $25,062,665.84. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,290 shares in the company, valued at $19,374,986.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 20,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.72, for a total value of $3,004,144.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 31,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,685,423.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 380,851 shares of company stock worth $56,707,789. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple
Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 30,391.8% in the first quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 26,075,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $149,333,000 after acquiring an additional 25,989,570 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can acquired a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,890,884,000. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 53.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 30,235,823 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,178,590,000 after acquiring an additional 10,471,342 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Apple by 8.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 123,534,393 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,889,649,000 after acquiring an additional 9,411,018 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Apple by 31.7% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 38,903,911 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,793,041,000 after acquiring an additional 9,354,484 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.72% of the company’s stock.
Apple Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $134.51 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $145.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $149.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.01, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.22. Apple has a 52-week low of $129.04 and a 52-week high of $182.94.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 27th. The iPhone maker reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $90.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.77 billion. Apple had a net margin of 25.31% and a return on equity of 160.90%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple will post 6.22 EPS for the current year.
Apple Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 7th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 4th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.06%.
Apple Company Profile
Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. It also sells various related services. In addition, the company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.
Further Reading
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