Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Up 0.8% - What's Next?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 0.8% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $251.02 and last traded at $250.09. 15,945,340 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 57,123,527 shares. The stock had previously closed at $248.05.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. KeyCorp cut Apple from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an "overweight" rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Apple Stock Up 0.7 %

The company has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. 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 stock's fifty day moving average is $234.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $224.89.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth $3,026,492,000. 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.