Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Hits New 12-Month High - Here's What Happened

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson reduced their target price on shares of 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 issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $236.78.

Apple Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.99, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $234.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $225.91. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $77,542,863,000 after buying an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in Apple by 14,145.8% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,603,000 after buying an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. 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.