Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Up 1.2% on Analyst Upgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares were up 1.2% on Monday after Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on the stock from $240.00 to $260.00. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $246.43 and last traded at $246.17. 12,696,184 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 35,600,293 shares. The stock had previously closed at $243.36.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the company. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Loop Capital reduced their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Moffett Nathanson reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.03.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Lantz Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 8.6% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Asset Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Guardian Asset Advisors LLC now owns 92,133 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $19,408,000 after acquiring an additional 732 shares during the period. Strong Tower Advisory Services raised its holdings in Apple by 19.4% during the 2nd quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 59,684 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,571,000 after acquiring an additional 9,679 shares during the period. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the second quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,426 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,985,000 after acquiring an additional 907 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signature Wealth Management Group boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.4% in the second quarter. Signature Wealth Management Group now owns 9,129 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,923,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $238.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $229.08. The company has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.57, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders 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 of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 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.