Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading 2% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 2% during trading on Monday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $200.00 to $250.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $215.59 and last traded at $214.82. 15,502,775 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 64,837,020 shares. The stock had previously closed at $210.62.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Apple from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded Apple from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $215.71.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 54,732 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 247,087 shares of company stock valued at $44,016,111. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,802 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,877,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Flagstone Financial Management boosted its stake in Apple by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,173,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,638,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Corporation boosted its stake in Apple by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,181,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 11,224 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,120,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Up 2.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $192.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.31.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The business's revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple's payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.