Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Up 1.8%

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares rose 1.8% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $220.87 and last traded at $220.67. Approximately 12,578,436 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 60,550,723 shares. The stock had previously closed at $216.79.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. DA Davidson raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Cfra upped their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.17.

Apple Stock Up 1.8 %

The firm has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.32, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $222.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $199.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,469,275. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Apple by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after buying an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth $33,912,466,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,677,190,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,360 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 54,702,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,531,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. 60.41% 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.