Apple’s (AAPL) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Melius Research

Melius Research reissued their buy rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research note released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Melius Research currently has a $265.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley restated an overweight rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America restated a buy rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Moffett Nathanson started coverage on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, August 19th. They set a neutral rating and a $211.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $234.51.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $228.03 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. Apple has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.23. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $220.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $194.75.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 145.35%. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.26 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 188,884 shares of company stock worth $38,092,387 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643 shares during the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,406,000. Barden Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 132.8% during the 4th quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,283,000 after purchasing an additional 18,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunpointe LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,782,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

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.