Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-six analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $239.27.

Several brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $261.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Maxim Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $203.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $236.48 on Tuesday. 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 has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The stock has a market cap of $3.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $226.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $208.86.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bellwether Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 387.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,128,000 after purchasing an additional 19,352 shares during the period. WT Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $80,057,000. Councilmark Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 1st quarter valued at $11,776,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in Apple by 10.3% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 16,745,201 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,526,874,000 after buying an additional 1,557,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 62.0% during the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 151,991 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $32,012,000 after purchasing an additional 58,153 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.