Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Up 0%

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shot up 0% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $215.51 and last traded at $213.26. 16,081,383 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 64,820,250 shares. The stock had previously closed at $213.25.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on AAPL. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Maxim Group increased their price target on shares of Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.71.

Apple Price Performance

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 firm has a market cap of $3.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.76, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $192.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $185.46.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. 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 yield of 0.47%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.55%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the 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 directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Apple by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after buying an additional 2,018,010 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 14,395.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Apple by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,677,190,000 after buying an additional 2,096,360 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Apple

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.