Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading 0.2% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose 0.2% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $244.63 and last traded at $243.53. Approximately 8,408,223 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 57,617,742 shares. The stock had previously closed at $243.04.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Maxim Group raised their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.68.

Apple Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $230.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $221.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the first quarter valued at $3,026,492,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

About Apple

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.