Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading 2% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) traded up 2% during mid-day trading on Monday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $200.00 to $250.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $215.59 and last traded at $214.82. 15,502,775 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 64,837,020 shares. The stock had previously closed at $210.62.

AAPL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Melius Research boosted their target price on Apple from $227.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Loop Capital cut their target price on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Itau BBA Securities upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 192,355 shares of company stock worth $34,771,329 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Accredited Investors Inc. raised its position in Apple by 4.6% in the third quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 249,461 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,710,000 after purchasing an additional 10,955 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in Apple by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,020,415 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $174,705,000 after buying an additional 21,458 shares during the period. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 535,030 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $91,603,000 after acquiring an additional 26,218 shares during the last quarter. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC now owns 1,488 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the period. Finally, AFT Forsyth & Company Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the third quarter. AFT Forsyth & Company Inc. now owns 39,969 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,843,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 1.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $193.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $185.44.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. 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.