UBS Group restated their neutral rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in a research report report published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $190.00 target price on the iPhone maker's stock.
AAPL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Barclays reiterated an underweight rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Maxim Group boosted their price objective on Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. DA Davidson upgraded Apple from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $215.71.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on Apple
Apple Stock Performance
NASDAQ AAPL traded up $6.13 on Monday, hitting $216.75. 60,320,268 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 65,195,328. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $220.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.24. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $192.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $185.31.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Apple will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.
Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.
Apple Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 15.55%.
Insider Activity
In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 54,732 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,378,155.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 247,087 shares of company stock valued at $44,016,111. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $35,394,751,000 after acquiring an additional 2,018,010 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $136,119,470,000 after acquiring an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $11,677,190,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,360 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company's stock.
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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