Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Up 0.1% – Here’s Why

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock price rose 0.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $236.12 and last traded at $234.72. Approximately 8,821,276 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 42,354,336 shares. The stock had previously closed at $234.40.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.85.

Apple Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $240.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.36.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 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 company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lantz Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares in the last quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp grew its holdings in Apple by 5.2% in the second quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp now owns 260,947 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $54,961,000 after purchasing an additional 12,984 shares during the period. Evolution Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. Evolution Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 31,109 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,562,000 after purchasing an additional 4,295 shares during the period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 10,074 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,122,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Chaney Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 21.5% in the second quarter. Chaney Capital Management Inc. now owns 36,443 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,676,000 after purchasing an additional 6,451 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.