Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Up 2.2% - Still a Buy?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 2.2% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $228.59 and last traded at $227.79. 27,987,519 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 48% from the average session volume of 53,335,480 shares. The stock had previously closed at $222.78.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Loop Capital cut Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Maxim Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $238.05.

Apple Trading Up 0.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $241.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.60 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company's 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company's 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 sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the third quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $14,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 2.7% in 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. Amara Financial LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the third 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 in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.