Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading 0.7% Higher

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares rose 0.7% on Friday . The company traded as high as $231.16 and last traded at $230.50. Approximately 31,376,543 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 48% from the average daily volume of 60,670,559 shares. The stock had previously closed at $228.87.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.17.

Apple Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $222.45 and a 200 day moving average of $199.62. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.26 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,223,062.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $33,912,466,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after buying an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,026,492,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 23,076.4% during the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,584,512,000 after acquiring an additional 9,200,345 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.