Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading 0.4% Higher

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose 0.4% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $228.50 and last traded at $227.25. Approximately 11,558,228 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 61,729,406 shares. The stock had previously closed at $226.37.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on Apple from $187.00 to $186.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.76.

Apple Stock Up 0.3 %

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $222.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $201.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.32, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Apple

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the fourth 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. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,912,466,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,677,190,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,360 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 54,702,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,531,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,807 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by 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.