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

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was up 0.3% on Wednesday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock to $256.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $244.11 and last traded at $243.39. Approximately 9,364,926 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 57,757,191 shares. The stock had previously closed at $242.65.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in Apple during the third quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $110,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $230.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $221.05. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted 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 net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

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.