Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Up 0.7% on Analyst Upgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s share price shot up 0.7% on Monday after Maxim Group raised their price target on the stock to $215.00. Maxim Group currently has a hold rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $248.86 and last traded at $247.30. 16,278,520 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 52,396,992 shares. The stock had previously closed at $245.55.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Argus upgraded Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $244.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Instrumental Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Instrumental Wealth LLC now owns 7,525 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,848,000 after buying an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Wilkins Miller Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,644,000. Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,372,000. Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $18,088,000. Finally, Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,493,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $240.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $233.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.87%.

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.