Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Up 0.4% – Time to Buy?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s share price traded up 0.4% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $235.89 and last traded at $235.79. 6,112,714 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 57,992,066 shares. The stock had previously closed at $234.93.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.68.

Apple Trading Up 1.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $229.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $219.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 6.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,026,492,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.