Apple’s (AAPL) Neutral Rating Reiterated at New Street Research

New Street Research reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $225.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson raised shares of 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. Evercore ISI reissued an outperform rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $190.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Apple from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $238.76.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $227.79 on Wednesday. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.23. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $222.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $201.57. The company has a market capitalization of $3.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.26 EPS. Analysts expect that Apple will post 6.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at $5,223,062.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 17.9% during the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 31,278 shares in the last quarter. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. grew its holdings in Apple by 657.1% during the fourth quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

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.