Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Up 0%

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shot up 0% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $216.70 and last traded at $216.38. 12,187,205 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 60,632,512 shares. The stock had previously closed at $216.32.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. KeyCorp reissued a “hold” rating and set a $247.61 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Maxim Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $203.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.17.

Apple Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $222.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $199.41. The firm has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.95.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,469,275. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,469,275. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now 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. Insiders have sold 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth $33,912,466,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Apple by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,677,190,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,360 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 2.0% during the 4th 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 increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the second 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

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.