Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target Raised to $250.00 at Oppenheimer

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price increased by Oppenheimer from $200.00 to $250.00 in a report published on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Itau BBA Securities raised Apple from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Needham & Company LLC restated a buy rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $215.71.

Apple Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $210.62 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $192.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Apple has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $220.20. The firm has a market cap of $3.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at $6,751,000. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 128,908 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,105,000 after acquiring an additional 4,790 shares during the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,220 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $552,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.3% during the first quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 28,679 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,918,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Apple during the first quarter worth about $1,716,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% 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.