Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report)'s stock price rose 3.6% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $208.00 and last traded at $206.91. Approximately 17,942,614 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 56,661,491 shares. The stock had previously closed at $199.74.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Apple from $252.00 to $220.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $263.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group reduced their price target on Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Argus raised shares of Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $233.88.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Apple
Apple Trading Down 0.5 %
The business's 50-day simple moving average is $216.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $229.42. The company has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.89, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Apple Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.
Insider Activity at Apple
In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple
Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Innovative Wealth Building LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.4% in the first quarter. Innovative Wealth Building LLC now owns 4,511 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,002,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in Apple by 0.5% in the first quarter. Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 14,843 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,297,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 50,502 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $11,218,000 after buying an additional 793 shares during the period. Guerra Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Apple by 15.9% during the first quarter. Guerra Advisors Inc now owns 18,910 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,200,000 after acquiring an additional 2,590 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC now owns 137,988 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $30,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
About Apple
(
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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.
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