Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target Raised to $325.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price objective boosted by Wedbush from $300.00 to $325.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson lowered their target price on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.47.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $255.59 on Thursday. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The business has a 50 day moving average of $237.41 and a 200 day moving average of $227.79. The company has a market capitalization of $3.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.04, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Financial Symmetry Inc grew its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the second quarter. Financial Symmetry Inc now owns 11,796 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,484,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its position in Apple by 7.4% during the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 51,628 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,573 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the second quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 41,290 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,696,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,000,264 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $421,296,000 after purchasing an additional 45,968 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its position in Apple by 8.2% during the second quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 160,336 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,317,000 after buying an additional 12,086 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.