Raymond James Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) had its price objective boosted by Raymond James to $250.00 in a research report released on Monday,Stock Target Advisor reports. Raymond James currently has a buy rating on the iPhone maker's stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. New Street Research reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $239.85.

Apple Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $229.98 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. Apple has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10. 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 firm's 50-day moving average price is $241.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $230.79.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $14,916,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 2.7% during the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after buying an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $16,269,000 after acquiring an additional 2,565 shares during the period. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners increased its stake in Apple by 12.8% during the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $59,122,000 after purchasing an additional 28,799 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

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.