Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading 0.4% Higher

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock price shot up 0.4% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $229.52 and last traded at $228.52. 9,081,632 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 61,585,020 shares. The stock had previously closed at $227.52.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Barclays cut their price objective on Apple from $187.00 to $186.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com raised Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.76.

Apple Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $222.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $201.57. The stock has a market cap of $3.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.54, 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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,469,275. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,469,275. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Verus Financial Partners Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Brown Financial Advisory boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the second quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $949,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company Profile

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.