Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Up 0.3% After Analyst Upgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shot up 0.3% on Monday after Loop Capital raised their price target on the stock to $300.00. Loop Capital currently has a buy rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $236.09 and last traded at $235.73. 8,058,778 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 59,881,887 shares. The stock had previously closed at $235.00.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AAPL. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $186.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.27.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 517,924 shares of company stock valued at $114,786,399. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter worth $140,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $226.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $208.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.55%.

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.