Apple’s (AAPL) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Wedbush

Wedbush reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has a $325.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Apple to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.88.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $235.74 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $238.36 and a 200-day moving average of $233.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $3.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.08 and a 52-week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its 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 net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $63,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $65,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% 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.