TD Cowen Reaffirms "Buy" Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

TD Cowen restated their buy rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in a report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports.

AAPL has been the subject of a number of other reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays dropped their price objective on Apple from $184.00 to $183.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Apple from $265.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $242.52.

Apple Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ AAPL traded down $1.59 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $236.00. The stock had a trading volume of 100,927,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 52,177,912. Apple has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $241.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, 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 Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. State Street Corp increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 6.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 6.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position 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 valued at $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.