Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $255.65 and last traded at $253.79, with a volume of 6867840 shares. The stock had previously closed at $254.49.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Moffett Nathanson dropped their target price on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.78.

Apple Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $235.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $226.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.47, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for 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%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Boston Common Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 9.5% during the second quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 203,435 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,847,000 after buying an additional 17,617 shares in the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $2,701,000. Benchmark Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $208,000. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 5,126.6% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 67,684 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,671,000 after purchasing an additional 66,389 shares during the period. Finally, BancFirst Trust & Investment Management increased its position in Apple by 22.4% during the second quarter. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management now owns 2,048 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.