Apple’s (AAPL) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI reiterated their buy rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research note released on Thursday morning, Stock Target Advisor reports. Evercore ISI currently has a $250.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock.

AAPL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Maxim Group increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Barclays reiterated an underweight rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Apple from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $215.71.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $221.55 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $195.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.85. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.46, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.24. Apple has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $221.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Apple will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

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

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 192,355 shares of company stock valued at $34,771,329 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Wyrmwood Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 69.0% during the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 17.9% during the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 31,278 shares during the period. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 118.0% during the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 118 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.