Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $260.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on AAPL. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Bank of America upped their target price on Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Apple Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $247.77 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.23. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $230.80 and a 200-day moving average of $222.26. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $248.21.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple 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 paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL boosted its position in shares of Apple by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 24,462 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,700,000 after purchasing an additional 4,675 shares during the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 4.1% in the third quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 54,499 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,698,000 after buying an additional 2,132 shares during the period. Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Apple during the third quarter worth about $746,000. Dantai Capital Ltd grew its position in shares of Apple by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Dantai Capital Ltd now owns 45,715 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,652,000 after buying an additional 5,215 shares during the period. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,508,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently 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.