Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Given Neutral Rating at UBS Group

UBS Group restated their neutral rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a report published on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $236.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock.

AAPL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report 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 research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.68.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $239.59 on Monday. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $229.02 and a 200 day moving average of $220.02. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $240.79. The stock has a market cap of $3.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.41, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after buying an additional 126,210 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Apple by 5.2% in the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $406,099,000 after buying an additional 95,235 shares in the last quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA boosted its position in shares of Apple by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 149,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $34,768,000 after acquiring an additional 19,670 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 34.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 200,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $46,650,000 after acquiring an additional 51,842 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.