Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading 0.1% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) traded up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Wedbush raised their price target on the stock from $300.00 to $325.00. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $260.10 and last traded at $258.56. 8,958,527 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 57,273,676 shares. The stock had previously closed at $258.20.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AAPL. StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Moffett Nathanson reduced their price objective on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of 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 assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bull Oak Capital LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at $42,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at $71,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter worth about $77,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 42.04, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50 day moving average is $237.41 and its 200 day moving average is $227.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

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.