Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Up 0.8% – Should You Buy?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s share price was up 0.8% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $213.43 and last traded at $211.33. Approximately 17,687,599 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 53,256,553 shares. The stock had previously closed at $209.68.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.22.

Apple Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $235.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $233.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after acquiring an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.