Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading 0.7% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock price traded up 0.7% during trading on Wednesday after Tigress Financial raised their price target on the stock from $245.00 to $295.00. Tigress Financial currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $229.66 and last traded at $229.63. 8,120,504 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 61,627,438 shares. The stock had previously closed at $228.03.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. KeyCorp reissued a “hold” rating and set a $247.61 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price (up from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.30.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,469,275. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 11.8% in the fourth 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 period. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $38,406,000. Barden Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 132.8% in the fourth quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,283,000 after buying an additional 18,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sunpointe LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $4,782,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.7 %

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $220.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $195.02. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

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

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.