Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley restated their overweight rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research note published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $273.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Citigroup reiterated a buy rating and issued a $255.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Apple from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded Apple from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $238.62.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $220.11 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.23. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $223.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.89. The company has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.26 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Apple will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at $5,223,062.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, 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 transaction, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 24,629 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,742,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares in the last quarter. Warner Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Warner Financial Inc. now owns 13,181 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,538,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 171,664 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,050,000 after acquiring an additional 3,367 shares in the last quarter. Invesco LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 52,508 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,109,000 after acquiring an additional 2,803 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investors Research Corp raised its stake in shares of Apple by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 17,307 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,332,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.