Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Up 0.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose 0.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock to $236.00. UBS Group currently has a hold rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $225.21 and last traded at $224.38. Approximately 12,390,785 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 58,613,785 shares. The stock had previously closed at $224.23.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on AAPL. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Maxim Group upped their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.51.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Apple during the 1st quarter worth $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its position in Apple by 14,145.8% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in shares of Apple by 158.3% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,977,582,000 after buying an additional 7,067,379 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Trading Up 0.4 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.03, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day moving average is $226.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $215.45.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

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.